American Horror Story: Replay
by o0bubbleso0oOo
Summary: When Elizabeth gets diagnosed with terminal cancer, her family relocate to Los Angeles to be able to take care of her in her final days. After purchasing Eve's dream house, a 1920s Victorian style mansion, their lives get crossed with a family whose lives tragically came to an end in the same house just years previously. Will the notorious 'Murder House' replay it's deadly history?
1. Uproot

**Chapter One: Uproot**

Standing outside the brand new black Range Rover that seemed to have taken over Lucy's status of Jason's prized possession, the Miller family looked up at the house with mixed emotions. With huge smiles printed across both their faces, Eve admired the 1920s styled art decor, imagining herself living like a 1920s Queen, whereas Jason admired the luscious lawn, dreaming of all the Sunday afternoons he'd spend mowing it or planting new flowers to please his darling wife. Lucy, on the other hand, was unsure. To her, the house looked nothing like she expected. The family home that she had grew up in and loved so dearly was a modest little suburban detached four bedroom house in a quiet estate on the outskirts of London. It was in a completely different league to this house.

"So, what do you think?" Jason asked his daughter and wife as he continued to admire the house.

"I love it," Eve beamed.

Lucy contemplated for a moment. Part of her wanted to tell the truth and demand they fly back to London Heathrow right away, but she knew she had to make sacrifices. "It's interesting, I suppose."

"Well, we had better go sign the contracts with all the paper work and then go pick up Lizzy," Jason announced proudly, causing Eve to grin with glee.

As Jason and Eve paraded down the path towards the entrance of the house, Lucy lingered on behind, dawdling and obviously in no rush to go and claim a bedroom as her own. By the time Lucy had made her way into the hall of the house, Jason and Eve had already signed the deed with the realtor. The realtor was a strange looking woman - a royal blue fitted blazer that was buttoned up right to the top and her short auburn hair styled like it wouldn't move even if a tornado struck at that very moment. Holding out her hand towards Lucy, the realtor flashed a warm smile to her. Lucy looked at her with suspicion. It was as if the woman was sort of mimicking Lucy's family.

"I don't believe we've met yet," the realtor smiled, still waiting for Lucy to shake her hand. "I'm Marcy."

"Lucy," she replied, giving Marcy the benefit of the doubt.

Lucy looked around the hall way. It all seemed to be a dark and dingy wood. From her facial expressions, it was easy to tell that Lucy didn't see the attraction in the house that Eve so easily saw.

"I can't believe how beautiful it is," Eve twinkled, looking around in complete awe.

"We should really begin the tour," Marcy insisted. "I have another client viewing a property on the other side of town in.."

Jason interrupted Marcy before she had chance to finish her justifying sentence. "I think we'd prefer to just look around the house on our own if that's alright."

"Very well," Marcy nodded.

Leaving the family to it, Marcy disappeared out of the front door and out the porch onto the path. Lucy stood outside the front door, watching Marcy as she waltzed down the path - it was like she couldn't get away from the house fast enough.

"Weird lady," Jason laughed as Lucy walked back into the house, closing the front door behind her.

"Lucy," Eve smiled as she turned around to look at her daughter. "Why don't you go up and sort some of your room out whilst we go get your grandmother?"

And with that, Lucy nodded and made her way up the spiral stairs that were made from the same dark wood as the rest of the hallway was lined with, wondering what her room was gonna be like and if it was going to be any better than her bedroom back at home - she doubted it. As soon as Lucy had vanished up the stairs, Eve turned to her husband with a look of guilt on her face. "I feel like we should tell her."

"No," Jason maintained. "She can't find out - not yet at least. Let her settle in and learn to think of this as home first."

Eve reluctantly agreed.

* * *

Walking into the room that Jason had already chosen for Lucy, she sighed to herself. Placing her phone into the docking station beside the bed, Lucy hummed along to the songs that played as she unboxed her life from the shipping boxes that were scattered around the room and began to organise all her possessions to make this house feel a little more like home. Her room at the house in London had been her room since she was born. Lucy sorted through all her belongings like she was making a trip down memory lane. Every thing she touched of hers brought an ocean of memories flooding back. Tears forming in her eyes as she thought of all the friends she was leaving behind and all the people she'd probably never see again.

* * *

As the car made its way down the highway towards the hospital where Eve's mother, Elizabeth - or 'Lizzy' as her family called her - was staying. The radio played in the background as Eve stared out the window at the scenery that was passing by as they drove out of Los Angeles.

"What's on your mind?" Jason asked his wife in concern.

"Nothing much," Eve smiled as she placed her hand over her husband's that he had placed on her leg. "Just all the memories of this place and.. I guess, I'm bringing my mother home to die basically."

"But there's nothing you could have done to prevent any of this, Eve," Jason sympathised, trying to reassure his guilt-stricken wife.

"I could have been there for her though. She never left me, not once, when I was a child. Whenever I was ill, she'd be there to pick me up from school and nurse me on the sofa with hot cocoa. Whenever I had school dances, she'd help me choose what dress to wear and she'd do my hair for me and let me borrow her make-up so I could impress my crush. She wasn't just my mother but she was my best friend. I should have got her to come live with us in England after dad died. I shouldn't have left her here by herself. She needed me and I wasn't here."

"You can't beat yourself up about it. Lizzy loves you."

Tears slowly trickled down Eve's face as she silently kept going over and over all the mistakes she had made with her mother throughout her life in her mind - from all the times she wished her mother would back off asking her about her love life to all the times she wished her mother would stop calling her twice a day every day when she first moved to London all those years ago. There wasn't one thing in Eve's mind at that very moment that didn't make her feel guilty in regardless to cutting her mother out of her life for so long.

* * *

Helping Lizzy out of the car, Jason and Eve smiled at each other as Lizzy wrapped her frail fingers around both of their arms. "I'm so lucky to be able to call you two my family," Lizzy rejoiced as they slowly walked together to the entrance of the house.

"Nanny Lizzy!" Lucy beamed as she ran to the front door from the lounge that was now set up into a little bedroom for Lizzy to stay in.

"Well, if it isn't my little Looby Lou!" Lizzy smiled, wrapping her feeble arms around Lucy and holding onto her tightly with all the energy she had in her whole body. "Haven't you grown."

After helping Lizzy over to the bed that Lucy had just made up, they all sat down on the sofa opposite to where Lizzy was slumped on the bed. Lizzy cherished every inch of her family as she looked at all three of them.

"You've all changed so much," Lizzy sighed as she struggled for breath.

"Mom, don't talk if you feel like it's too draining for you," Eve interrupted. "I don't want you to be in pain."

"How could I be in pain with my family with me?" Lizzy smiled. "I couldn't be any happier. I'm glad we're all together. We'll be happy here in this house, even once I'm gone."

"Lizzy.." Jason hesitated.

"I'm not going to pussyfoot around this," Lizzy paused. "I'm dying. I'm not sure how long I have left but I'm going to make the most of every second I have left on this planet."

Lucy looked at her grandmother in astonishment at how strong she was being considering the tragic circumstances she was in. Eve was holding onto her mother's hand whilst Jason has his arm draped over Eve's shoulder in a comforting manner. As the four of them sat around in Lizzy's makeshift bedroom, they began to reminisce about the memories they had shared together and they began to catch up on all the memories they had missed with each other.

* * *

Later that night once Lucy had retired to her bedroom for the night and Lizzy had taken her medication, causing her to fall asleep, Eve and Jason were sorting out the remainder of the boxes that were in the master bedroom of the house. As Eve passed her husband a pile of photo albums from the box she was emptying for him to place on the bookshelf beside him, he passed her a handful of candlesticks for her to arrange on the dresser beneath the window.

"So far so good," Jason smiled to Eve as he looked around the room that was empty just a matter of hours ago and now it seemed to have been transformed into a magnificent boudoir with a grand four poster bed in the middle of it.

"I know," Eve grinned as she stood back to admire their teamwork. "It doesn't look too shabby, does it?"

"I was talking about the.."

Eve cut into Jason's sentence before he had chance to blurt out the secret they were trying ever so hard to keep hush about. "I know what you were talking about. I just feel uncomfortable discussing it. I think from now on we both need to lock the thought of it into the back of our minds and forget we even got told about it. This is our home. Nothing can happen in here as it's our home - our safe place."

"We can't just keep acting like nothing happened here though," Jason argued. "I'd understand if it was something trivial but it isn't."

In a slight rage, Eve slid the box she was half way through emptying across the room and walked over to the bed, throwing back the sheets and hurling the scatter cushions onto the chaise longue at the end of the bed. "Earlier, you said yourself that Lucy can't find out yet. She isn't too keen on this place as it is. We need to wait until she's grown to like this house before we even consider telling her. If it means protecting my baby girl from a little ghost tale, then I can live with a secret."

* * *

As the Californian sunshine beamed into Lucy's bedroom through the windows, Lucy stood in front of her mirror, studying her reflection as she straightened out her dress, remaining undecided over what to wear. She had only just managed to get her body into some sort of routine that was updated with the adjusted body clock that came with the time difference between the time zone she had been used to for the past seventeen years and the time zone she had been thrown into, but now she also had to overcome to ordeal of getting ready for school and catching the school bus to her new high school before the clock even struck eight in the morning.

As she tried on different jackets to see which one went best with the white floral dress she had unsurely decided on, there was a faint knock on the bedroom door. "Come in."

"I just wanted to come talk to you quickly before you left for school," Eve smiled as she peered her head around the door. Closing the door behind herself, Eve walked into Lucy's room and watched her daughter continue to debate silently to herself over what jacket she should wear. "How are you feeling?"

"A little nervous, but I'm sure it'll be fine," Lucy smiled. "I mean, how hard can it be to start your life all over again when you only have eleven months left until you graduate? Oh, not to mention the fact that I know nobody here and all my friends that I've grown to know and love live on the other side of the planet to me."

"Lucy, I know you've taken this hard but we wouldn't have done it this way if we didn't think you would be able to cope with it all. You'll make tonnes of friends here and you'll settle into your classes in no time at all."

"I know I'll cope but I just miss home, you know?" Lucy sighed as she sat down on the end of her bed and began to fold her pyjamas up into a neat pile. "I don't want you or dad to think of me as selfish as I know why we moved here and I don't mind about that reason. I love Nanny Lizzy and I'd hate to think that she was alone in a hospital at a time like this but I just really miss home."

Eve leant closer to Lucy and brought her in for an embracing hug. "I tell you what, once we get the house properly sorted, you can invite some of your friends from back home over in the summer holidays for a few weeks."

Lucy nodded. "Thank-you."

Eve smiled before standing up from the edge of her daughter's bed as Lucy remained seated, cradling her folded pyjamas in her hands. "Oh, and Lucy," Eve paused. "I think the light denim jacket looks best on you."

As Eve left the room and shut the bedroom door behind her, Lucy looked across the room and spotted the light denim jacket that her mother was talking about flung across the armchair in the corner of the room. Walking over to grab it, she felt as if there was someone stood behind her. Turning around as fast as she could, she realised it was the cat - Tabby, a little black and grey tabby cat.

"Jesus, Tabby," Lucy laughed to herself, crouching down to pick her beloved pet up. "You nearly gave me a heart attack." Stroking his soft fur, Lucy sighed to herself. "I bet you miss home too. Don't you? I bet you miss the non-stop rain and the isolated feeling on the tube first thing in the morning with all the busy London commuters who think the slightest bit of eye contact with another stranger means they are destined for doom. I know I do, surprisingly. It's funny, isn't it? I never stopped complaining about those sort of things when I had to endure them daily but now they're gone, I miss them terribly. I'd give everything and anything to just have a proper cup of tea too."

Lucy stopped herself after a moment of realisation that she was talking to her cat like it was her diary or therapist or something.

"Sorry," she sighed, placing Tabby onto her bed.

Watching him as he rolled onto his back and began to lick his fur with his soft tongue, Lucy grabbed her school bag from beside her bed before kissing Tabby on the top of his little head.

* * *

With Lizzy settled in front of the television for the morning with a glass of milk, a packet of cookies and her medication, Eve finally managed to find the time to get the rest of the unpacking done that she had so desperately wanted to finish by the time Lucy returned home from school in the hope that it would make the house feel a little less like a house and more like a home to them all, especially Lucy. As Eve began to file through the final box in the dining room and place the final photo frame on the wall, she looked around the room with pride. Again, the dining room was decorated with the same wood as the hallway - and the rest of the house for that matter.

"It's finally to feel like home, isn't it?" Jason smiled to Eve as he walked into the dining room to see the finishing touches being put in place - a smile on Eve's face.

"You don't understand how much this means to me," Eve began. "I cannot thank you enough for what you've done for me and mom."

"How about you try and think of a way to thank me tonight when Lucy's asleep and Lizzy's taken her pills?" Jason teased as he kissed Eve's neck.

"Stop it, Jason," Eve laughed as Jason continued to kiss his way up and down Eve's neck, nibbling gently on her skin.

"Come on," Jason grinned as he began to unbutton Eve's blouse. "We still need to christen the house."

"Five minutes then," Eve reluctantly groaned as she gave into temptation.

"Five?" Jason questioned as he lifted Eve up onto the antique table, completely throwing Eve's dining table arrangement out of place. "Fifteen."

"Fine. Fifteen."

* * *

Walking through the corridor of Westfield High, Lucy looked around in complete uncertainty. She didn't have any idea of where to go, let alone who anybody was - the complete opposite to what it was like at her college back in England. Lucy wouldn't have exactly classed herself as one of the popular girls due to modesty, but she wasn't short of friends. With her father being a doctor at a hospital in Central London and her mother working as a beauty therapist in one of the top beauty salons in Knightsbridge, Lucy had grown up in London and was surrounded by people she had gone through her entire school life with. Being here was completely out of her comfort zone.

Checking her timetable that the receptionist had given her before he had darted off to deal with another student, Lucy realised it was no luck as the timetable to her just looked like letters and numbers sprawled across it. The only thing she really understood was the subject names - at least they didn't change much transatlantic. Without noticing, Lucy walked straight into the path of three preppy looking girls and bumped into them as she continued to study the timetable.

"I'm so sorry," Lucy apologised as she looked up to see who she'd just bumped into.

"Don't worry about it," the girl in the middle smiled, gently flipping her shiny brunette hair with blonde ombre ends over her shoulder as if she was a model on a catwalk in the London Fashion Week.

All three girls were dressed from head to toe in designer labels - it was as if they had just raided Rodeo Drive on a limitless spending spree. All three girls clutched hold of matching designer handbags with their perfectly manicured paws as they all smiled to Lucy with their clinically whitened teeth behind their bright red lipstick that was, yet again, designer.

"Wait. You're new here, aren't you?" the tall blonde that was sipping on a Starbucks coffee asked.

"Yeah," Lucy nervously smiled, unsure of how to approach the situation. "I just started today."

"Do you want us to show you around?" the third girl - a skinny but on the short side girl with bright red frizzy hair - added with a friendly smile.

"I don't want to be any trouble," Lucy modestly refused. "It's fine."

"Honestly, we don't mind," the girl in the middle responded. "You're English, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, is it true? Are all English boys hot?" the girl in the middle grinned.

"You guys don't get Jeremy Kyle over here, do you?" Lucy laughed to herself but soon shook her head as she realised her joking reference to the British version of Jerry Springer was completely wasted on them.

"What's your name?" the red haired girl asked.

"I'm Lucy, Lucy Miller."

"Nice to meet you, Lucy. I'm Crystal," the red haired girl introduced. "This is Sophie," she continued, ushering her hands to her left, where the girl with the brunette hair and blonde ombre ends was stood, smiling back at Lucy. "And this is Summer." Crystal finished off the introductions by pointing at Summer, the girl who had blonder hair than the sun, who was stood at the very end of their threesome.

"Let me have a look at this," Sophie laughed, taking hold of the crumpled timetable from Lucy's hand before scanning over it. "I hated these things when I first started back in fourth grade, but you soon get the hang of them."

"It just looks like some foreign language to me," Lucy joked, trying to break the icy tension that had arisen since the introductions just moments ago.

"Look," Sophie smiled as she broke away from her little formation with her girlfriends and stood beside Lucy, pointing her manicure over the sheet so it was in broad view of Lucy, who was hiding her unloved nails behind her back. "This number here is the class room and then these letters here are the initials of the teacher teaching that class. So now you have Math in room 424 with JL."

"JL?" Summer asked.

"JL," Sophie smirked.

"JL?" Lucy questioned. "Who's JL?"

"Jonathan Lunbridge, also known as the super hottie of the staffing body of Westfield High," Crystal grinned. "I had him in seventh grade and couldn't stop staring at his ass."

"This can't be good," Lucy laughed. "I need to pass my maths to get into a good university."

"First thing of being an American high school student is drop the 's' in 'maths'," Sophie said, handing Lucy back her timetable. "Oh, and it's college, not university."

"Thank-you so much," Lucy smiled as she went to turn around to go to her next lesson.

"Where do you think you're going?" Summer asked, holding onto Lucy's arm as she tried to get away.

"To lesson?" Lucy replied, unsure of why they were stopping her from leaving them alone.

"We'll walk you," Sophie smiled. "By the looks of it you haven't really had the chance to make any friends here, so let us be your friends."

"Okay," Lucy laughed, still unsure of how to react to it all.

* * *

Sat at the desk in the study, Jason held the phone to his ear as he waited for somebody to answer it at the other end. A whole afternoon has passed by with the job search and there was absolutely nothing. Ringing around every head hunter that was listed in the phone directory was becoming a bit of a ball ache for Jason so it was hardly surprisingly when his mind began to wonder around the study, looking through the bits and bobs that the previous owners had forgotten to claim - mainly the shelves upon shelves of psychology books and therapist manuals that lined the room on the numerous amount of antique style bookcases. As Jason began to flick through one of the old notepads he discovered in the drawer of the desk that sat central in the room, somebody picked up on the other end of the phone line.

"Um, yeah, I suppose you can help me actually. My name is Jason Miller," he began to explain as he shoved the notepad back into the drawer and sat back down on the chair, grabbing a pen from the pen pot as he prepared to scrub the agency's number off his long list of numbers that were majority already scrubbed off as being useless. "I'm looking for a job in a hospital as a doctor or even a general practitioner in the Los Angeles area."

Instead of getting the usual 'I'm sorry, Mr Miller, but there are no vacancies on our records at the present moment in time regarding a job of your criteria', Jason was surprised to find out that there was tapping at the other end of the phone line, as if somebody was typing on a keyboard.

"That sound perfect."

A rejoiced facial expression finally appeared on Jason's face after a dragging afternoon of getting absolutely nowhere.

"Saturday at 11am?" Jason nodded. "That's perfect. Thank-you so much."

Hanging up, he called out Eve's name instantly.

"Yeah," she replied as she walked into the study, carrying a pile of books that she placed on the empty shelf below all the psychology books.

"I've got an interview!"

"Finally," she smiled. "Do you want me to box these books up and ask Marcy to see if the previous owners left a forwarding address for their possessions or.." Eve paused in realisation. "Do you want me to box these books up?"

"They're fine," Jason replied as he turned back to the desk to tear out the page of numbers in his notepad. "I think it adds a bit of character to the room."

"Very well then," Eve said, before disappearing back out of the room to finish unpacking another room.

Scrunching up the piece of paper, Jason tossed it into the paper waste bin that sat on the opposite side of the room. Opening the drawer of the desk back open again, he placed his notepad in it before pulling out the notepads that were already in there. Thumbing through the pages of the notepads, Jason realised they were all filled full of notes on various people, presumably patients.

* * *

Anxiously, Lucy walked into the math class, feeling like she had a million eyes on her - but she wasn't far wrong as the majority of the class of thirty were all staring at her, apart from one girl who sat at the very back, doodling on a piece of scrap paper, being completely oblivious to her surroundings. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, unlike every other girl Lucy had set eyes on in this school that treated the school like a fashion parade.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Lucy asked the girl, pointing to the empty seat beside her.

Looking up from the piece of paper, the girl took the headphone from her ear that was blaring out music and smiled up at Lucy. "Sure."

As Lucy took the seat and began to get out her belongings from her bag, the teacher waltzed into the classroom.

"They weren't wrong," Lucy sniggered to herself as she stared at the teacher with his black hair that was sleeked back and his olive toned skin.

"What?" the girl sat beside Lucy asked.

"Oh, I got told the teacher is a bit of a hottie," Lucy giggled quietly, making sure nobody else could hear her apart from the unknown girl that she had sat beside.

"He's alright, I guess," the girl shrugged.

After a few moments of silence, the teacher, who was now perched on the edge of his desk, looked out at the class through his piercing eyes and began to take a register. "Emma Ascot?"

"Here, sir."

"James Benjamin?"

"Here, sir."

"Tammy Conner?"

"Yeah," the girl sat beside Lucy replied.

"Tammy?" Lucy asked as the teacher continued to read out the register and the students continued to say they were present with the default response of 'here, sir'.

"Yeah."

"That's a really nice name," Lucy smiled, trying to kill the elephant in the room. "I have a cat called Tabby so you two are nearly name twins."

"Name twins?" Tammy laughed. "I suppose so."

"Well, it's only one letter different," Lucy grinned, trying to justify my stupid comment, but at least it worked - the awkwardness had disappeared and Tammy had finally broken a smile. "You can see where I was coming from, right?"

"I do," Tammy nodded.

"Oh, by the way, I'm.."

Before Lucy had the chance to say her name, the teacher did it for her. "Lucy Miller?"

"Here, sir."

"Where?" the teacher asked, looking out onto the sea of students like he was the captain of the ship on the high seas- hand above his eye and everything. Lucy placed my hand up, mentally preparing herself for another examination by her new fellow classmates. "Ah, welcome, Lucy. I'm Mr Lunbridge. I'll be your math tutor for this semester, and hopefully for the upcoming one too."

Lucy nodded as he turned away to face the blackboard that was hung on the wall beside the projected computer screen. As Mr Lunbridge crawling page numbers on the board in chalk, she turned back to talking to Tammy. "So, what are you drawing?"

* * *

Sitting down on a table in the cafeteria, Lucy chomped on her apple as Sophie, Summer and Crystal discussed their plans for the weekend. This school wasn't half as bad as Lucy thought it would be, she thought to herself. She had managed to survive a whole four hours of being an American high school student and, although it wasn't exactly like Hollywood and Disney portray it to be, it wasn't the worst thing in the world to have happened to Lucy.

"What do you think, Lucy?" Sophie asked, making Lucy return back to Earth as she exited her deep trail of thought and reflection over her new life in Los Angeles.

"Sorry, I wasn't really listening," Lucy confessed, putting her apple down on the lunch tray. "What did you say?"

"Us three might hit the mall this weekend. Do you fancy it?" Summer smiled.

"Mall?" Lucy repeated with a tone of uncertainty in her voice.

"I think you English call it a shopping centre," Crystal laughed.

"Oh, I know what it is," Lucy smiled. "It's just my nan isn't very well so I'm helping my mum take care of her and we still have a lot of unpacking to do so I'm unsure if I'd be able to go. I'd love to. It's just.."

Sophie interrupted me. "We're not taking a no for an answer."

"Okay," Lucy reluctantly agreed.

"Where do you live?" Sophie asked. "Crystal's dad has just bought her a new car so we need to give it a test run. We'll pick you up on the way there."

"939 Berro Drive," Lucy replied, taking a sip of her orange juice. "The 1920s Victorian style house."

As Lucy continued to tuck into her lunch, she failed to notice the change in facial expressions her new found friends were experiencing once they learnt of Lucy's address.

"Hey, Lucy. It looks like we've both got chemistry together too so do you wanna walk with me?" Tammy asked as she turned around from the table behind where Lucy, Sophie, Summer and Crystal were sat to look at her. "It'll save you getting lost."

"Yeah, thank-you," Lucy smiled as she finished the rest of her orange juice off.

"I'll take that," Tammy offered, picking up Lucy's empty lunch tray from the table and carrying it off before Lucy had the chance to argue with her offer.

"What are you doing?" Sophie asked, looking confused.

"Going to Chemistry," Lucy smiled as she climbed over the seat to get out of the table and picked up her bag from the end of the table. "I'll give you all a text tonight to arrange this mall trip then?"

"No, we mean, what are you talking to that freak for?" Summer laughed, looking at Tammy as she walked back over with a smile on her face.

"She's not a freak," Lucy insisted. "You can't call her a freak when you don't even know her."

"But look at her," Summer giggled. "She doesn't even wear any make-up."

"What's up?" Tammy asked as she realised there was tension in the group.

"Nothing," Lucy smiled before she turned back to Sophie, Summer and Crystal. "I'll text you tonight then?"

"Yeah," the girls chorused in unison as Lucy disappeared out of the cafeteria and into the corridor as her and Tammy made their way to their chemistry class.

As the corridor began to get busier with all the other Westfield High students rushing around, trying to get to their different classes before the bell rang, Tammy turned to look at Lucy with a half-hearted smile across her face. "It's okay," she smiled to Lucy. "I know your friends don't approve me talking to you. I know I'm not the coolest person in this school."

"Hey, I don't care what they think," Lucy reassured. "I can talk to who I want. I'm not their toy or something they can control. I'm my own person."

"Yes, you are," Tammy laughed as Lucy linked her arm around Tammy's arm as they walked into the chemistry lab.

The chemistry lab didn't look much different to any other stereotypical laboratory classroom - rows and rows of high desks lined the room, all with fitted bunsen burners and gas taps dotted around. Posters on the periodic table hung by the huge whiteboard that clung to the wall at one end of the classroom. A shelving unit along one side of the wall was full of textbooks, test tube racks, experiment equipment and chemical bottles. At least the desks weren't covered in writing or doodles from the bored students like the desks at Lucy's old high school back in England were, she thought to herself. As the students piled into the classroom, a young female teacher stood by the whiteboard, writing chemical symbol equations on the board from a textbook. She didn't look like she was a proper teacher though - she barely looked like she had just graduated high school herself.

"Ms. King, this is Lucy," Tammy said, introducing the new girl to the teacher, who looked over from the textbook with a warm, welcoming smile across her face. "She's new here."

"Lucy, I'm Ms. King," the teacher, now who was known to be called Ms. King, smiled, holding out her hand towards Lucy for her to shake it.

Shaking the teacher's hand, Lucy nodded. "I'm from England."

"So your curricular will be slightly different to our curricular but don't worry, I'll pair you up with someone who will be able to get you up to date with all the goings on and help you if you get a bit confused," Ms. King explained. "Let's see who you can sit with and be paired with." She turned around to face the class, who had all taken their seats. "Jesse Porter."

"Yeah, miss," a boy on the back row smiled politely as he flicked through a textbook, obviously not paying attention to anything in the book.

Just by looking at him, Lucy could tell he was the one boy in the grade, if not entire school, that had all the girls swooning over him. It seemed like even Ms. King had a little crush on him with the way she smiled at him. His short brown hair was mostly hidden by a grey coloured beanie. Sporting a plain white shirt and khaki brown chinos, it was also obvious that Jesse Porter wasn't the sort of guy who would spend hours upon hours deciding on what outfit to wear the night before school - he just threw on anything and still looked twice as good as every other boy in that classroom.

"Do you mind if the new student comes to join you?" Ms. King asked as she placed the textbook she was holding onto the desk and took her seat behind the desk, not taking her eyes off of Jesse.

Lucy groaned to herself - she had already been branded as the 'new student'.

"That's fine, miss," Jesse smiled.

Apprehensively, Lucy made her way to the back of the classroom - walking through the aisle in the middle of all the rows of lab desks with all the students looking at her and judging her. Usually, Lucy wouldn't have been bothered by people judging her but with being a strong believer in first impressions counting, she was like a bag of nerves. By the time Lucy had got to the spare desk beside Jesse, Ms. King had already began to introduce the class into the lesson on the periodic table.

"Hey, I'm Jesse," he smiled to Lucy, attempting to break the awkward tension that had formed between them since Lucy had sat down beside him.

"Lucy," she replied.

"Is that an English accent I hear?" Jesse whispered.

"Yeah."

"Not very talkative, are you?" Jesse asked.

"I am," Lucy smiled. "It's just I'm trying to pay attention to what the teacher is saying."

"I'll leave you alone for now then," Jesse chuckled as he turned to look at Ms. King, who continued to write chemical equations on the board.

* * *

Closing the front door behind her, Lucy made her way into the lounge area, where Lizzy was fast asleep in her bed - the television still blaring away to itself. Creeping around the bed, Lucy turned the television set off, trying ever so hard not to awaken Lizzy from her rest as she did so.

"Good day at school, darling?" Lizzy smiled to her granddaughter as she stirred in her sleep.

"I didn't mean to wake you," Lucy apologised. "I just thought you would have a better sleep with the television off."

"I wasn't really asleep," Lizzy replied. "Sit down and tell me about your day."

Without arguing with her beloved Nanny Lizzy, Lucy sat down on the sofa beside the bed. "It was really good. I made a few friends and managed to learn my way around the school. I got lots of homework already too. These American schools don't like to waste time, do they?"

"Your mother was the exact same when she was your age. She hated homework," Lizzy laughed. "Like mother, like daughter."

Lizzy's weakened hand reached over the side of the bed and placed her hand on Lucy's hand. "How's your day been, Nanny Lizzy?" Lucy asked, taking hold of Lizzy's hand firmly.

"My day has been lovely. I made a new friend today," Lizzy smiled. "She's called Moira and she's the housekeeper here. A lovely elderly woman. She made me a cup of tea earlier when your mother and father were unpacking and sat with me for ages. We even watched a bit of television together."

"That's nice."

"Anyway, I won't keep you any longer. You need to get your homework done. Don't want you to be getting any detentions in your first week, do we?"

Lucy shook her head. As she stood up, she leant across the bed and softly kissed Lizzy's cheek. "I'll be back in later when I've finished my homework to keep you company," Lucy promised.

As Lucy disappeared into the kitchen, Lizzy turned the television back on with the remote and settled back into the pillows. Lucy walked into the kitchen and walked straight to the fridge-freezer. Opening the doors, she grabbed hold of the orange juice and gulped it down as Eve and Jason walked into the kitchen, carrying the last of the boxes.

"Thought it was you," Eve smiled.

"You didn't tell me we had a housekeeper."

"A housekeeper?" Jason asked, confused by what his daughter had just said.

"Yeah. Nanny Lizzy said she's been talking to the housekeeper today," Lucy explained. "Some elderly woman called Moira apparently."

"Moira?" Eve asked.

"Sorry, have you been replaced by parrots whilst I've been out?" Lucy joked.

"Lucy, I think we need to talk," Eve said, taking hold of Lucy's hand off the fridge door and walking her across to the breakfast bar that sat in the middle of the room.

Jason gave his wife a look of uncertainty as he watched Eve and Lucy sit down at the breakfast bar.

"You know Nanny Lizzy has cancer, right?" Eve asked, resulting in Lucy nodding. "Well, sometimes she can't quite remember things in the same way as they happened. So she might think she's been sat with a woman called Moira, but she could have just been watching television where the show had a character called Moira, who was an elderly housekeeper."

"Okay," Lucy smiled. "I didn't think it sounded right to be honest. You'd never said anything about a housekeeper before and I didn't think we were doing that whole 'staff' thing just because we live in Los Angeles now."

"You just have to take the things Nanny Lizzy says with a pinch of salt. She doesn't mean to tell little lies as to her, it's the truth," Jason added.

"I know now," Lucy nodded.

"Now go get your homework done and then you can help me with dinner," Eve instructed as she stood up from the breakfast bar and began to empty out the box of plates and mugs, sorting them out into a neat arrangement in the cupboards around the kitchen.

Leaving Eve and Jason to finish sorting out the kitchen - the final room of the house to be finished, Lucy walked into the study and dumped her school bag on the sofa. Sinking onto the sofa, Lucy let out a huge sigh. Looking around the room, Lucy's attention was drawn to all the books from the previous owners - a collection of psychology books that looked like first editions they were that old. Getting her chemistry book out of her bag, she walked across the room to the desk that stood in the middle of the room and sat down on the chair.

"Write a balanced symbol equation for the reaction between sodium and water," Lucy sighed as she read the question.

After she scribbled down a few notes, she looked at the paper and groaned. "It just doesn't add up."

"The two is in the wrong place," a voice said from behind where Lucy was sat at the desk.

Turning around in horror, Lucy realised she wasn't alone. Stood behind Lucy was a teenage boy - he couldn't have been much older than what Lucy was and his grunge-like appearance was complimented with his messy blonde curls. Smiling down at Lucy, he leant over her and pointed at the equation. "You see, you need another two there."

"Who the hell are you?" Lucy demanded, completely ignoring the fact that this stranger had just completed her homework for her.

"Who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?" the strange boy grinned.

"I'm the hell who lives in this house," Lucy growled.

"That makes both of us then," the strange boy winked.

"Lucy," Jason's voice called from the corridor, followed by a knock on the door. "Are you okay in there? I heard talking."

Jason slowly turned the door handle and peered around the door. Instead of the shocked expression Lucy was expecting from him when he caught sight of the boy who'd broken entry into the house, Lucy received a smile from Jason. Confused, Lucy looked to where the boy was stood just moments ago to find there was nobody stood there - she was sat all alone in the room. It was like he had just vanished off the face of the Earth.

"I was just listening to some music," Lucy lied, still confused as to where the boy had disappeared to.

* * *

Sitting up in bed, Eve rubbed moisturiser into her hands as Jason sat beside her, reading a travel guide book on Los Angeles. Looking at her hands in a deep trail of thought, Eve sighed to herself before turning to look at her husband. "Do you think Lucy bought the lie about mom?" she asked with a worried tone in her voice. "I hate making out that she's imagining things when we both know she might well of been talking to a woman called Moira."

"I know you hate lying but would you rather tell Lucy the truth?" Jason asked.

"No," Eve shook her head. "God, no. She'd freak out."

Elsewhere in the house, Lucy was laid in her bed in complete darkness apart from the light from the street outside that was breaking through into the room, causing shadows to dance on her bedroom wall. Turning away to face the wall, Lucy sighed to herself, completely unaware that the boy from before was lying beside her, watching her chest move up and down as she breathed silently. The whole house was in absolute silence apart from the slight mumble of the television from the lounge where Lizzy was laid watching television, probably already asleep. Trying to get comfortable to be able to drift off to sleep, Lucy turned over and realised she wasn't alone.

"Boo," the stranger whispered.

"Who are you and why are you in my room?" Lucy calmly asked the stranger without raising her voice.

Without answering, the boy disappeared again on the spot. It wasn't even like he had ran off out of the door or climbed out of the window - he just vanished into thin air. Lucy shook her head as she sat up in bed, turning the lamp on that was sat on her bedside table and grabbed the bottle of sleeping pills, emptying two out into her hand and gulping them down her throat, followed by a glass of water.

* * *

Saturday morning soon approached and Lucy finally had the chance to have a lie-in. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Eve was sat at the breakfast bar, opposite Jason, discussing her plans for a new business - a beauty salon. Eve was a huge beauty enthusiast - her hair was always perfected with no strands out of place; her make-up was always perfected with no lipstick smudges or eyeliner smears; her nails were always perfected with no chips or wiggly lines. She previously worked as a beauty therapist in a high-end salon in Knightsbridge for the rich and famous Londoners, but always dreamed of owning her own business some day and now it was her chance.

"I have a meeting with the bank on Tuesday. I was thinking about somewhere not too far from here," Eve explained to her husband as she showed him the presentation she had spent the majority of the last three days creating. "Just a little salon for now. I could always expand into a bigger salon, or even a chain if it goes well."

"Sounds good," Jason smiled, handing the plans back to Eve as he scoffed away at his oatmeal.

"I was thinking Lucy could help me out in the salon as well when I get it up and running," Eve beamed. "It'll be like a little family business."

"What?" Lucy asked as she walked into the kitchen in a dressing gown and slippers, looking like she had just rolled out of bed moments ago.

"How would you feel about working in the salon when I get it up and running?" Eve asked, looking like she was about to explode with happiness at any moment.

"Um, yeah," Lucy paused. "Where's the orange juice?"

"Here," Jason replied, holding up the carton of orange juice that was on the breakfast bar in front of him.

Slouching onto the stool, Lucy poured herself a glass and downed it within seconds - her parents looking at her in amazement. "Thirsty?" Eve asked.

Lucy nodded as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "What time is your interview, dad?"

"11am," Jason smiled. "But I'll be back by 3pm so we can go exploring the city if you want. I know you've always wanted to go to Los Angeles."

"Yeah, on holiday," Lucy laughed. "But it's alright. I'm going to the mall with some girls from school."

"Mall?" Jason asked.

"Shopping centre," Lucy smiled.

"No, I know what the mall is. I'm just surprised you're going to the mall when you weren't too happy about moving here in the first place."

"But I suppose I should give it a chance," Lucy sighed. "It's not been that bad so far. The only thing is this house is a bit creepy."

"It's all the history behind it," Eve butted in before Lucy had chance to question anything else about the house that would cause Eve to lie even more to her daughter - something she hated more than anything. "But you like your school, don't you?"

"Yeah," Lucy nodded. "It's alright."

"Well, I'd better get going. I need to find the hospital before I have my interview," Jason smiled as he got up from the stool and pushed it beneath the breakfast bar.

"Good luck, dad," Lucy grinned. "I know you'll get it. They'd be stupid to turn you down. You're a great doctor."

"There's a big difference between being a senior doctor and fixing a few cuts and bruises in A&E though," Jason sighed, flashing a half-hearted smile to his wife and daughter as they continued to eat breakfast. "But thank-you darling."

"Ring me as soon as you get out of the interview to let me know how you get on," Eve smiled, giving Jason a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm taking mom for a little walk today. Just a little run around the park with her wheelchair. Getting her out of the house for a bit will do her a world of good. I think."

After the good lucks and goodbyes, Jason grabbed his briefcase and all his paperwork that was sprawled out on the kitchen counter and made his way into the hallway, towards the entrance of the house. Walking out of the house and closing the door behind him, he unlocked his car and jumped straight into the driver's seat. Jason sorted out all his paperwork into a neat pile and placed it in the briefcase that he had placed on the passenger seat beside him. As he did this, something in the house caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Looking up at the house, he saw a couple stood in the window of the master bedroom that belonged to himself and Eve. The man's arm was wrapped around the woman as she cradled a baby in her arms - both smiling down at the bundle of blankets. Jason blinked again as he looked up at the house, but they disappeared.

"Jet lag," Jason groaned as he began to reverse the car off the drive.

* * *

Standing beneath the shower head in the bath, Lucy let the water fall over her face to refresh her. She had been depending on sleeping pills for the past week to try and regulate her sleeping pattern but it didn't half make her wake up feeling groggy. After running her hands through her hair, she leant down and turned off the taps. Reaching her hand through the shower curtain that ran the perimeter of the bath tub, she grabbed a towel from the side and pulled it back through to the bath, wrapping it around her, embracing the warm towel hug. Gathering the curtain to one side, she clambered out of the bath and walked over to the sink. Using her hand to wipe away the steam and condensation from the mirror, she spun around as she realised the strange boy from the other day was stood behind her.

"What are you doing in here? Who are you? What do you want with me? Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"I don't want to hurt you," the boy smiled.

"Why are you stalking me then?" Lucy pleaded.

"I'm not stalking you."

"Well, why are you in here when I'm in the shower? Where did you disappear to the other night?" Lucy asked. "You can't just keep turning up like this. I don't know who you are."

"Magic," he smiled.

"Who are you?" Lucy repeated.

"Tate," he grinned. "I already know you, Lucy."

"How do you know my name?" Lucy asked, confused. "I haven't told you my name."

"I've been watching you. I've been watching your whole family. I'm always there - even if you don't think I am. We all are."

"We?" Lucy questioned. "What do you want with my family? We don't mean no harm."

"No, but people mean harm to you. There's some dark secrets in this house, in these walls," Tate explained. "You haven't seen nothing yet."

"Just leave me alone, you psycho," Lucy growled, opening the bathroom door and shoving him out into the corridor.

Slamming the bathroom door behind herself, she looked in the mirror that had already began to fog up again and stared at her reflection.

* * *

Rummaging through the rail of clothes in one of the stores at the mall, Lucy sighed to herself. Her mind was still overtaken with what happened earlier. She didn't want to tell her mum or dad as they wouldn't believe her - they would just make out that she was secretly seeing some boy and had sneaked him into the house behind their backs. She knew how they would react straight away. Instead, Lucy decided to keep quiet about it all and hope that 'Tate', if that was even his name, had got the message by now and would leave her alone for good, or at least for now. Yet Lucy still couldn't help wonder by what he meant about the 'dark secrets in this house'. People were out to harm her? But she, nor her family, had done anything wrong in their lifetimes, let alone in this short time since they had moved into the new house just a week ago.

"What's up with you?" Sophie asked as she inspected a dress she was holding. "You've been so quiet since we picked you up."

"Nothing," Lucy lied. "I'm just worried about my dad. He's got a job interview and I really hope he gets it."

"Hey, Lucy. This will suit you," Summer smiled, holding up a red and white dress from the rack she was scavenging at.

"I like LA as you can wear dresses all year round," Lucy laughed as she took hold of the dress and held it against her, looking in her reflection in the mirror. "This looks nice."

"Nice?" Crystal questioned. "It looks amazing. If you don't buy that, I'll.. well, I don't know what I'll do, but just buy it."

After contemplating for a few moments, Lucy eventually gave in and walked over to the cashier, getting her purse out of her bag.

Walking out of the store with all their shopping bags, the girls headed towards the food court to get some lunch. As they walked through the foyer of the mall towards Subway, something caught Lucy's attention. She only caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye but she knew she wasn't mistaken. Without a doubt, she knew what she saw. Leaving Sophie, Summer and Crystal to walk over to Subway, Lucy departed from their formation and walked straight over to a stall that was set up next to the water fountain that was spraying water in the middle of the mall. Taking a closer look, Lucy was startled to realise she was right with what she saw - her house.

"Hello miss, would you like to book a tour?" the short, plump sales rep smiled to Lucy as he noticed her taking interest in the board below the stall.

"That house," Lucy paused as she analysed the board even closer, unsure of what to do or think.

"Ah, the notorious 'Murder House'," he smiled proudly. "Yes, it's a highlight of our 'Eternal Darkness Tour'."

Lucy froze as she realised what he had called it - 'Murder House'? Surely he was mistaken. Lucy had always heard of these stories of Los Angeles tour agencies lying about certain attractions to get more money and more interest from tourists - tourists loved this sort of stuff.

"Would you like a brochure?" he asked, offering a brochure titled 'Eternal Darkness Tour' to her.

"Thank-you," Lucy replied, taking the brochure from his hand and flicking through it.

"There you are," Sophie laughed as she stood behind Lucy, followed by Summer and Crystal. "You just disappeared."

"Is that your.."

Lucy interrupted before Summer had chance to finish her sentence but everyone, including the sales rep, knew what she was about to say. "Yeah, that's my house."

"You live in the 'Murder House'?" the sales rep asked, sounding more excited than he looked - which seemed like an impossibility, but he proved it wrong.

"Yes."

"Right, that's enough shopping for today," Crystal commented, ushering the girls off in the opposite direction to the sales rep, who was evidently eager to find out more about Lucy's abode.

Sophie and Summer rushed into Subway, joining the queue before Lucy managed to catch up with them as she dawdled along behind with Crystal by her side.

"Do you know about my house?" Lucy questioned.

"Know?" Crystal paused. "The whole state does basically. It's one of the most famous houses in California, let alone Los Angeles."

"Why didn't I know this then?" Lucy asked, confused as to what she was hearing. "Why is it so famous?"

Crystal sat down at a table at the back of the Subway store and waited for Lucy to sit down opposite her before she answered Lucy's question. "I doubt half, if not seventy-five percent, of this is real but apparently every family that have lived in that house in the past, well, since it was built have died in some gruesome way."

Lucy froze again.

"The girl who lived there a few years ago was in the grade above and she just disappeared. Her mom died in childbirth with twins - one was stillborn and then the girl, Violet, ran off with her baby brother after her dad committed suicide."

"That's awful, but it doesn't mean that it's a 'Murder House' though?" Lucy paused.

"The couple before that were a gay couple - they both died. Apparently one of them shot the other and then shot himself," Crystal continued to explain. "Then the family before that.."

Lucy stopped Crystal. "It's fine. I get it."

* * *

Placing the dinner plates around the dining table, Lucy smiled to her grandmother, Lizzy, who was sat in her wheelchair at one end of the dining table. Eve was right - a gentle stroll around the local park in the Californian sunshine did Lizzy a world of good. As Eve carried in a tray of vegetables and placed them around the dining table in a neat and orderly fashion, the front door opened and in walked Jason.

"Jason, is that you?" Eve called as she carried the oven gloves back into the kitchen, in a hurry to find out whether her husband had got the job or not. "I told you to ring me as soon as you got out of the interview."

Placing his briefcase on the breakfast bar, Jason broke out into a huge grin as Eve looked at him in anticipation, waiting to find out the verdict from his interview. "I got it."

Throwing her arms around Jason, Eve kissed him. "I knew you can do it!"

"Well done, dad," Lucy beamed as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed the cutlery from the cutlery stand on the kitchen counter.

"What's this?" Jason questioned as he noticed the 'Eternal Darkness Tour' brochure on the counter beside Lucy's handbag.

"Oh, some guy at the mall was giving them out today. Our house is in it," Lucy smiled as she walked into the dining room, carrying the cutlery and putting them neatly at each place setting, just as her mother had shown her whilst she was growing up.

"Lucy, could you come in here for a second?" Eve paused as she and Jason gave each other the same look.

"Look, it's fine. I know you knew the house has had murders in it. The realtor has to tell you - it's the law. But I'm fine with it," Lucy encouraged. "It's awful that those people got murdered in here but from what my friends were telling me at the mall, it wasn't anything too gruesome. The tour brochure just exaggerates it, but they have to make it into something that it isn't otherwise they wouldn't get any business."

"So you're still fine living here?" Jason asked.

Lucy nodded. "Just because bad things have happened to the previous families doesn't mean that bad things will happen to us. Dad, you've just got an amazing job and mum, you're about to start the planning on opening your own business. Don't you think if this was a bad house that bad things would have happened to us by now?"

Eve and Jason looked at each other before looking back at Lucy.

"You know I'm right. Nothing's gonna happen to us. It's fine," Lucy smiled as she walked into the dining room, followed by her pleasantly surprised and reassured parents.

As Lucy sat down at the dining table, accompanied by Jason, Eve and Lizzy, the chalk that was attached to the chalkboard on the wall beside the fridge began to move up and scrawled patterns on the board in the shape of letters.

"There's dark secrets in this house."


	2. Jesse - Part One

**Chapter Two: Jesse [Part One]**

Sitting on the stairs by herself, Lucy had her hands in her lap as the emergency services rushed passed by her and straight into the lounge. It was as if everything was in slow motion. There was nothing Lucy could do to help. She'd never felt so helpless in her entire life. A few moments passed and a hand appeared on Lucy's back in an attempt to comfort her. The only sound in the house was from the paramedics in the lounge, trying to revive Lizzy. Eve was sat on the sofa, watching the paramedics through her tears as they performed CPR on her mother. Jason was stood behind Eve, holding onto his wife as she sobbed her heart out. Lucy looked up to see Tate sat on the step beside her with his hand on her back. Instead of freaking out like Lucy had done on the past few encounters with the intruder, Lucy smiled out the corner of her mouth as tears streamed down her face.

"Don't cry," he whispered. "That's the thing with this house. Nobody dies exactly."

Looking at him in confusion, Lucy didn't have the chance to ask him what he meant by that as he stood up from the stairs and walked towards the door that led to the basement. Taking one glance back at Lucy, who was stood watching him, he held his hand out for the door handle and turned it before disappearing down the stairs. As Lucy was about to follow him to see where he had been hiding all this time, two arms wrapped around her waist.

"I'm so sorry, mum," Lucy cried as Eve sobbed in her daughter's arms.

"It's just one of those things," Eve sniffled as she lifted her head off of Lucy's shoulders to reveal her red raw eyes that were stinging with tears. "We knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I just thought we'd have more time with her."

"Mrs. Miller," one of the paramedics said as she walked over, leaving the rest of the team of paramedics. "We've tried all we can but.. I'm so sorry for your loss."

Eve nodded as she gulped back the lump in the back of her throat. Heartbroken, Jason wrapped his arms around his wife and daughter and held them close.

"We've already alerted an undertaker to come and collect your mother's body," the paramedic continued as the other paramedics filed out of the house, carrying all their equipment with them.

"Can we have a moment alone with, you know, the body?" Jason asked.

The paramedic nodded before she followed the rest of her team out of the front door, closing it ajar behind her. The whole house was in absolute silence. A house that was days ago filled with joy and laughter as they celebrated Lizzy's 73rd birthday had suddenly been turned into a house of sadness and grief. Holding onto each other's hands for support, Eve, Jason and Lucy made their way across the hallway towards the lounge, where Lizzy's lifeless body laid on the bed that she had only just began to call home. Clutching hold of Lizzy's frail fingers, Eve kissed her mother's cold cheek and brushed her mother's hair behind her ears with her fingers.

"She looks so peaceful," Lucy wept. "At least she's in a better place now. Not in pain. Not suffering. Away from this fucked up world."

* * *

Curled up in a ball on top of the covers on the bed that Lizzy was laid in just a matter of hours ago, Eve cradled her mother's shawl as she wept into the pillow. The television was playing to itself in the corner of the room, but Eve's sobs could still be heard over it. Without saying a word, Jason warily laid down beside Eve, draping his arm over her whimpering body and held her tight. Lucy, sat on the stairs, watched on as her father comforted her mother.

* * *

Dressing herself in the black dress her mother had chosen out for her at the mall last minute, Lucy looked at the photo of her grandmother that stood on the dresser. Nothing felt the same since Lizzy passed away four days ago. The house felt cold - it had a sense of eeriness about it. Although Lucy rarely spoke to her grandmother when living on the other side of the planet to each other, she always felt a strong bond with her and was especially sad with the passing. Elsewhere in the house, Eve was fixing her bright red lipstick before placing the black hat on top of her head that belonged to her late mother. Taking deep breaths, Eve tried to keep the tears at bay whilst Jason admired his wife's strength as he leant against the doorway into their bedroom.

"It'll be over soon," Jason reassured as he walked over to Eve, as she stood in front of the window and overlooked the grounds of the house.

"We bought all this to be closer to here, yet we weren't quick enough," Eve sighed, collapsing into her husband's arms.

"You heard what the doctors were saying at the hospital. Her time had just came. Her body couldn't get any worse so her body just gave up. There was nothing you could have done. There was nothing the hospital could have done. There was nothing that any of us could have done," Jason consoled, rubbing his wife's shoulders in an effect to comfort her worries and anxieties. "Lizzy wouldn't have wanted you to get all cut up like this. She would have wanted you to remember her life as she remembers you through all those happy childhood memories you tell me and Lucy about."

Eve nodded as Lucy walked into the room, holding a teddy bear. "I thought we could put this teddy bear in the lounge as a reminder of Nanny Lizzy," Lucy smiled. "She got me it when I was a baby and I know we won't forget her but it'll be nice to look at it and instantly be reminded of Nanny Lizzy's warm smile and big heart."

"That's a lovely idea, Lucy," Eve smiled, trying ever so hard to fight the tears back.

* * *

Four days had passed since Lizzy's funeral. Jason and Eve were on their way to Lizzy's favourite spot in the centre of Los Angeles to scatter her ashes, as she wished in her will, and were staying overnight in a hotel to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary, leaving Lucy to have a girls sleepover with her new friends from school. Last period on a Friday afternoon meant Lucy had chemistry, but instead of studying equations and elements, Lucy was sat at the back, texting her friends about the plans for the weekend, using the chemical textbook to disguise her phone.

"You won't get away with it," Jesse whispered in Lucy's ear as he caught on to what she was trying to go.

Lucy threw daggers at Jesse before turning back to her phone on discussing what movies they were gonna be watching tonight. Crystal wanted to watch the latest Zac Efron rom-com film, whereas Sophie and Summer wanted to watch a horror film - apt since they were spending the night without adults in the infamous 'Murder House'.

"She's got eyes like a murderer that one," Jesse continued, pointing discreetly towards Ms. King.

"Lucy, in terms of structure and bonding, why does magnesium have a higher melting temperature than sodium?"

Lucy froze. She didn't know the answer. She didn't even understand what was meant by the question Ms. King was requesting her to answer. Deep down, Lucy knew that Ms. King was purposely picking on Lucy as she knew fine well that Lucy was texting on her phone instead of paying attention like she should have been. Jesse grabbed his notepad and began to scribble down notes.

"Look through your notes you've made in this lesson, Lucy," Ms. King instructed.

Lucy looked down at her notepad and paused for a moment. The page was blank. Luckily for Lucy, Jesse carefully put his notepad on top of her own notepad.

"Magnesium has a higher melting temperature than sodium due to the fact that metals lose electrons so that they can achieve a full outer shell within their structure or, in some cases, empty their outer shell, leaving a metal ion with a positive charge. Solid metals have the outer electrons delocalised throughout a lattice of metal ions, holding them together by the electrostatic attraction between the negative electrons and the positive ions. Magnesium has two electrons in its outer shell, whereas sodium only has one. So in magnesium, there are twice as many delocalised electrons and the ions have a positive two charge, meaning that the attractive forces holding the lattice in place are much greater than in sodium. To melt the metal solid, you have to overcome the forces between them using heat so you need more heat, and thus a higher temperature, to overcome the attractive forced within magnesium."

Sighing a chary sigh of relief, Lucy mouthed a sincere thanks to Jesse before handing his notepad back to him.

"Very good, Miss. Miller," Ms. King smiled as she turned her back to the class and continued to write notes on the board. "But next time, I suggest you pay attention in class and don't rely on Mr. Porter for help."

"Sorry, Miss," Lucy smirked to Jesse.

As Ms. King resumed her tedious lecture on the reactivity of the noble gases, Lucy poked Jesse's arm with her finger. "Why did you do that?" she whispered.

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked, putting down his pen to look at her.

"You didn't have to help me out there. You could have just watched me suffer the burn that comes along with not paying attention in class," Lucy smiled.

"Well, I didn't want you to leave me in the lurch like that if anything like that happened to me so it's sort of like you owe me now," Jesse grinned. "Plus, I kind of like you sitting with me and I wouldn't want you to get moved."

As Jesse turned back to continue making notes from the board, Lucy sat looking at him with a huge grin on her face. Maybe this Jesse guy wasn't like the stereotypical popular boy after all. Maybe he was a decent guy.

* * *

Pulling the car up onto a clearing in the trees, Jason turned off the engine and sat back in the driver's seat, looking at Eve, who was sat in the passenger seat beside him, clutching onto the urn of ashes as she looked out the window through the trees. The worldwide renowned Hollywood Sign stood proudly on the hill, hidden in the distance through the trees. As Eve unclipped her seatbelt and got out the car, Jason hung behind in the car for a few moments before following in Eve's path as she made her way through the trees and towards a bench - the bench that Lizzy had specified in the instructions she left for Eve in her will. Clambering over all the fallen trees and branches that laid across the deserted path, Jason held onto his wife's shoulder as she carried on holding onto the urn with all the strength in her hands. After a short distance, they made it to the spot.

"This is it," Eve smiled to Jason as she looked at the piece of paper Lizzy's lawyer had given them that was instructing whoever would scatter Lizzy's ashes. "This is the spot."

"I can tell why she picked it," Jason said as he wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders and admired the view.

A clearing in front of them showed the Hollywood sign in its full glory as the sun beamed down. Trees shaded a little park bench that was sat alone in the middle of the clearing in perfect view of the sign. In contrast to the hustle and bustle that was happening just a matter of miles away in the City of Los Angeles, the spot was like a peaceful haven with the twittering of the birds that sang along in the tree tops above being the only sound they could hear. A slight breeze rustled through the trees and through Eve's hair as they walked closer towards Lizzy's designated spot. Reaching the spot, Eve took one last look down at the urn before she removed the lid and began to scatter the ashes in the breeze that was blowing away from them. Smiling, Jason and Eve both watched the ashes dancing in the wind.

"It's like she's here with us."

Little known to them as Eve poured the last of the ashes from the urn into the wind, a shadowed silhouette of a figure was watching them, behind the safety of the trees. The moment that Eve and Jason turned around to make their way back to the car, the shadow disappeared through the trees, into the darkness of the park without a trace. Climbing back into the car, Eve looked out the window and smiled. "She's going to be happy here," she smiled.

"She is."

"Do you think Lucy's going to be okay at the house tonight?" Eve asked, turning to look at Jason with a look of concern on her face.

"Of course she is," Jason reassured firmly as he started the engine. "She's got her friends stopping round and it's only for one night. Nothing has happened in that house so far so we've got nothing to worry about. She'll be fine."

"I know," Eve nodded. "It's just she gets scared so easily."

* * *

Sat on her bed, Lucy looked up from her textbook to see Tate walking over towards her. "You go to Westfield High, don't you?"

"Yeah, why?" Lucy asked, putting her textbook down on the bedside table and watching Tate as he sat down on the bed beside her.

"Same. Well, used to," he smiled. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah," Lucy nodded.

"Really?" Tate asked.

"Yeah."

"So you're one of those people who actually enjoys going to school and learning and being told what to do and when to do it?" he laughed.

"Yeah. What's wrong with that?" Lucy asked, feeling a little offended.

"Nothing," Tate smiled suspiciously. "So where's your beloved mommy and daddy?"

"My mum and dad going to Glendale for the night to scatter my grandmother's ashes."

"Home alone?"

"No, I have some friends coming over," Lucy replied sternly.

"Friends are useless," Tate warned. "They always let you down. In this world, people are just out for themselves."

"I'd rather be that than lonely though," Lucy smiled.

"Lonely? You think I'm lonely?" Tate asked.

"Well, that's the only reason I can think that you'd be spending all your time here," Lucy responded. "Don't you have somewhere else to go?"

"I'm not lonely. How can I be lonely with all these thoughts in my head? I'm never alone. We're never alone."

Looking at Tate with a look of confusion, Lucy was soon interrupted by her phone ringing.

"Hello," Lucy smiled as she placed the phone to her ear.

"We walking to yours now but we were thinking, why don't we have a party instead?" Sophie's voice suggested on the other end of the phone line, leaving Lucy to look at Tate with an unsatisfied look on her face. "It's not every day you get to have a party in the 'Murder House' and I'm sure that Jesse guy you like would come if you asked him."

Lucy

"Um," Lucy paused, studying Tate's distrustful facial expression as he stared back at her - his eyes refusing to leave Lucy's alone. "I don't know. Can we discuss this when you get here?"

"Yeah," Sophie replied. "We'll be five minutes - ten tops."

"See you then," Lucy smiled before hanging up the call and putting her phone back in the docking station beside her bed.

"People always leave you in this world. You can't trust anything in life."

"What about your thoughts?" Lucy asked.

"You can't trust anything in life," Tate repeated, fixing his eyes on Lucy's lips. "Especially your thoughts."

You could tell by the look on Lucy's face that she was a little freaked out by Tate's revelation. Sitting edgy on the bed, Lucy looked across the room at the clock and then back at Tate. "My friends will be here soon. You'd better go," Lucy hinted.

Watching Tate as he left Lucy in her room to get ready for her friends' arrivals, Lucy thought about what he had just said. She couldn't work out whether he was just a plain psycho that had some serious mental health issues or whether he had a valid point. What if we shouldn't trust our own thoughts? What if our thoughts made us think things we shouldn't think about? What if our thoughts were more dangerous than any weapon in the entire world? As Lucy sat on her bed thinking it through, she shivered slightly, trying to shake out all the thoughts from her mind. Luckily, the deep trail of thought was soon broken by the sound of knocking on the front door downstairs. Getting up from her bed, Lucy walked out of her bedroom and into the corridor, making her way down the stairs to let her friends in before they started to moan and groan through the door. Stepping onto the ground floor from the final step on the stairs, Lucy realised Tate was sat in the corner of the room - both his legs crossed and looking straight up at her with an emotionless look across his face.

"I told you to go," Lucy remarked as she looked through the eyehole in the front door to see Sophie, Summer and Crystal all dressed up in short, figure-hugging dresses - completely the opposite to the 'comfortable pyjamas' they had previously arranged just hours ago during their texting conversation through lessons.

"Go where?" Tate asked. "Deep down, you know I belong here too."

"What are you on about?" Lucy questioned, looking confused. "Look, just go out the back door."

Tate looked at the back door that was beside the door to the basement and then back at the adamant Lucy. Without saying a word, Tate stood up from where he was sat and walked towards the back door. Whilst Lucy was opening the front door and welcoming her friends, jokingly introducing them to the 'Murder House' sleepover, Tate opened the basement door and walked down the stairs, closing the door behind him.

"Come on, Lucy," Summer pleaded. "A party will be a great way to meet new people."

"Not to mention annoy the neighbours," Lucy laughed. "I can't afford to do anything to piss them off. We've only just moved here and haven't met any of them yet."

"Neighbours are there to piss off," Sophie smiled, raising her eyebrow slightly. "What you scared of? Having fun?"

"No," Lucy shook her head. "I just.." Lucy paused as she looked at Sophie, Summer and Crystal in turn - all showing their best attempts at puppy eyes as they tried to convince Lucy to say 'yes' to their proposition.

"We didn't dress up like this for nothing," Sophie groaned, running her hands down her skin tight dress.

"As long as you all promise to stay behind tomorrow and tidy up before my parents get back," Lucy compromised. "I don't want my mum to have anymore hassle. She's already cut up so much about my nan's death and the stress from her starting her own business up - I don't wanna add to it with getting back to find a trashed house from a party that got out of hand."

"You're too sensible," Summer joked as they walked into the lounge and sat down on the sofa.

"I love your house though," Crystal added, looking around in amazement. "It's so classy."

"Really?" Lucy asked, following Crystal's eye movement as she continued to study the room. "I don't like it that much. It's full of character but it's so big and empty now that nan's passed away. Plus, I'd love a swimming pool in the garden or even a hot tub but my parents said no as it wouldn't go with the house."

"Crystal's got two swimming pools, a hot tub and a sauna," Sophie beamed. "I use it all the time. It's amazing, especially at night."

"But what we really wanna know is.." Summer began.

"Are you inviting Jesse?" Sophie winked.

Lucy sat looking at the girls as she debating silently to herself whether or not she should invite him.

"Look, you've got nothing to lose if you invite him," Crystal smiled.

"And maybe a lot to gain," Sophie giggled, wiggling her eyebrows as if to insinuate something to Lucy as she continued to decide what to do with the whole Jesse situation.

"Okay, I'll invite him," Lucy announced. "Just please don't be saying anything to him that will make it awkward. I have to sit with him in chemistry for the rest of the semester remember."

"Good!" Sophie beamed, satisfied by what she has managed to achieve.

"We promise to leave you two alone," Crystal added, smiling at Lucy as she got her phone out her back pocket and began to dial Jesse's number that he gave to her the chemistry lesson before in case she got stuck with anything on the chemistry homework over the weekend.

"Um, hey, Jesse? It's Lucy," Lucy smiled, holding the phone to her ear. "Oh, I'm fine with the chemistry homework. Actually, I was just wondering if you fancied coming to a party tonight." Lucy paused for a moment. "It's at my house. It's not a huge thing. Just a couple of friends coming over since my parents are out of town for the night and I was wondering if you wanted to bring some friends. I'd love to get to know you."

Lucy clenched her teeth at her friends as she waited anxiously for a response, dreading the possibility of receiving a turn down.

"Really?" Lucy beamed. "That's great. Yeah, I'll text you my address in a second then. Come at about eight."

Sophie, Summer and Crystal all began to giggle and high-fived each other as they watched Lucy end the phone call.

"Told you!" Sophie laughed.

"You'd better help me get ready then," Lucy smiled.

"We're already on it," Summer replied.

"I was thinking curling your hair into cute loose waves and then how do you feel about smokey eyes?" Sophie asked as she ran her fingers through Lucy's brown hair.

"Sounds great," Lucy agreed, appearing to be in some sort of daze as she daydreamed - presumably about Jesse.

* * *

Once Eve and Jason had checked into their luxury hotel for the night, Jason began to carry up their shared suitcase up the stairs towards their hotel room.

"Five-hundred dollars a night. Five star hotel. Onsite spa and gym. Catered for many A-List celebrity guests, such as Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Yet can't afford to install an elevator," Jason joked quietly to make sure that none of the staff working around them could hear what he was saying in fear that they might get chucked out of the hotel and not get a refund.

"Hush you," Eve laughed, gently hitting her husband's forearm with the reservation documents that she was carrying in her hand. "I said I could carry it."

"Yes, but you're my wife and this is my treat. What kind of husband would I be to let my own wife carry up our suitcase on her own anniversary present?" Jason asked.

"Well, let's see," Eve paused as they reached the upper floor of the hotel and began to make their way down the corridor in search of their nominated hotel room - the Honeymoon Suite. "For our first anniversary, you completely forgot. For our second anniversary, you were working and then delayed our anniversary celebrations for four months then ended up getting me pregnant. For our third anniversary, you spent the entire day in the pub celebrating winning a couple of hundred quid on the horses and then came up blinding drunk at 6pm and ended up collapsing before throwing up all over the bedroom carpet, leaving eight months pregnant me to clean up your mess and nurse your hangover."

"Yes, I get it," Jason sighed. "I was a lousy husband."

"Hey, I hadn't finished," Eve smiled as they reached the door to their hotel room. "For our fourth anniversary, you spent the entire night with baby Lucy so that I didn't have to wake up once for her night feed or when she was unsettled during the night. I genuinely think that was the best night sleep in my entire life."

Jason turned around and grinned at his wife as he opened the hotel room door, revealing the suite to her. As they walked in, they looked around in amazement. A king-size bed dominated the room that was scattered with red rose petals beneath a white canopy. A balcony led out through white French doors opposite to the bed, overlooking the valley with Los Angeles' city skyline visible in the distance.

"Actually, this could probably be the best nights sleep in my entire life," Eve laughed, taken aback by the room.

"Sleep?" Jason asked, grabbing hold of his wife's hand as he dumped the suitcase down on the floor beside the shut door. "Who said anything about sleeping?"

* * *

Looking in the mirror, Sophie blew herself a kiss and winked at her reflection after applying another layer of make-up to her already existing three layers of make-up. "Sophie babes, you are looking f-i-i-ine tonight," she joked as she pulled up her dress slightly, making it shorter than it already was. "Gonna be getting some action tonight."

"You're so weird," Lucy laughed as she stood in the doorway of her bedroom, watching Sophie and Summer as they fought for dominance over the mirror whilst Crystal painted her nails on Lucy's bed. "If you act like that, you really won't be getting any action. Oh, and not in my parents' room. They'll flip."

"I'll always get action," Sophie said, spinning around and looking at Lucy with piercing daggers.

"With the back of your hand, yeah, maybe," Summer added slyly.

"Anyway, do I look okay?" Lucy asked.

Sophie and Summer both took a step back - Sophie completely ignoring Summer's insult directed at her. They both looked at Lucy as Crystal looked over in Lucy's direction from the bed, slowly wafting her hands in front of her as the nail varnish began to dry. Summer was naturally tall as it was but the black stilettos that Sophie and Summer had given to her to wear made her look even taller. The black dress that she was also wearing hugged her figure perfectly, showing off her long tanned legs as she stood in the middle of the doorway, nervously waiting for a reply off her friends as they continued to look at her.

"So how do I look?" she repeated, still waiting for a response.

"Amazing," Crystal beamed, getting up from the bed.

Lucy smiled to them as she ran her fingers through her long, brown hair. "I suppose it'll do," she sighted to herself, secretly pleased as she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror through the corner of her eye.

* * *

Eight o'clock soon came and passed. A few people that Sophie, Summer and Crystal invited danced along to the sound of the heavy bass line thud from the music that was blasting through the stereo as Lucy looked around the room from the doorway, guzzling her drink from a red plastic cup. After a few more moments of scanning the room deep in thought, Sophie crept up behind Lucy and shouted "boo" in his ear, startling her as a result.

"God, you shouldn't do that!" Lucy said before walking off in a mood towards the kitchen, which was also crammed full of people - people Lucy had no idea who they were.

Sophie looked at Lucy in confusion before following him, snaking past all the people in the kitchen and out of the back door to the much quieter garden. By the time Sophie had managed to catch up with Lucy, Lucy was already sat on the slight slope in the middle of the garden, facing away from the house with her back to a concerned Sophie. Looking at her new friend, Sophie put her empty cup down on the wall outside the house and made her way across the grass to where Lucy was sat. Without saying a word, Sophie sat down on the slope beside a quiet Lucy and looked at the trees, waiting for Lucy to say something to break the silence.

"I knew he wouldn't turn up," Lucy laughed without happiness.

"There's still time," Sophie reassured, looking at her phone that was glued to her hand as moments previously she was collecting all the guys' numbers that she didn't already own. "It's only half eight."

"I didn't expect him to come anyway," Lucy smiled to Sophie.

"If he doesn't turn up, then it's his loss, isn't it?" Sophie said, wrapping her arm around Lucy, trying to make her feel better about the whole situation. "Lucy, I've only known you two weeks now but you've grown to become a really good friend of mine. You're such a lovely, warm person. If he turns this opportunity down, well, he's obviously stupid. Don't let yourself get down about this. Now, I want you to get in that house, mingle with new people, get so drunk you can't remember your own name and then I want you to have an amazing time."

Lucy looked at Sophie. Up until now, Lucy wasn't too keen on Sophie. They were friends but to Lucy, Sophie seemed a bit like the 'Queen Bee' of the group that was only really concerned with her own feelings and was only out to help herself - the sort of person that Tate had warned her about. But now Sophie seemed to be showing her true colours. Maybe she wasn't that bitch that Lucy perceived her to be after all.

"Have you had too much to drink?" Lucy joked.

"I might have had a few drinks," Sophie smirked.

"You're all slushy when you're drunk," Lucy giggled, sipping on her own drink that was some concoction of whatever alcohol they could find in the cupboards earlier. "I don't like it when you're nice. Go back to being a hard faced cow."

"Hard faced cow?" Sophie asked, looking amused. "Is that what you think of me?"

"Do you want me to lie or do you want me to tell you the truth?" Lucy joked.

"I don't mean to come across like that," Sophie explained. "I know I can be really bitchy at times, but that's just my guards to protect myself from getting hurt."

"Friends don't hurt each other so you're safe with me," Lucy smiled.

"Lucy, I appreciate this heart-to-heart talk - really I do," Sophie paused. "But I really need another drink. Another drink and maybe a guy too."

"Come on then," Lucy sighed, standing up and holding out her hand for Lucy to take. "Let's go back in and get absolutely mortal."

"Mortal?" Sophie questioned.

"English word for drunk," Lucy laughed, correcting her phrasing as she forgot about the transatlantic language barrier.

Linking arms, Lucy and Sophie strutted back into the house that was crammed full of strangers, trying ever so hard to not get their heels stuck in the grass. Rustling in the trees at the back of the garden was a darkened silhouette that was hiding in the shadows of the house, creeping closer and closer as Lucy and Sophie walked closer and closer to the doors that led into the house. Making their way through the crowded kitchen, Sophie grabbed hold of Lucy's hand and led her into the lounge. Jumping up and down to the beat of the track that was blasting through the stereo speakers that one of Summer's friends had brought along, Lucy and Sophie grinned from ear-to-ear as they found themselves getting lost in the music. In the corner of the room, Tate was stood beside the stereo, looking at Lucy as she sang along to the lyrics of the song.

"Want a drink?" a voice asked Lucy as she continued to dance away to the song.

Turning around, Lucy was surprised to see Jesse stood behind her. His hair wasn't hidden with his usual beanie attire; instead, it was spiked up in a quiff style. "Yeah," Lucy beamed, trying to be as casual as she could but found it ever so hard to hide her happiness as she realised he kept to his promise. "I'll come with you."

Following Lucy into the kitchen, Jesse couldn't help but look her up and down, smiling at her talent. The kitchen has surprisingly emptied out with people and only a few misfits remained as they hugged onto their bottles of vodka like anti-social koala bears. Opening up the fridge, Lucy groaned as she realised the entire contents had been removed and scavenged by the party.

"I know," Lucy smiled as she turned back around, closing the fridge and walking into the dining room.

Opening the top drawer of the cabinet, she felt around the roof of it and, after a few moments, pulled out a key.

"My parents don't think I know about that," Lucy slyly grinned at Jesse, who was stood in the doorway to the dining room, studying her every move.

As Jesse continued to look at Lucy, she confidently opened up the doors at the bottom of the cabinet and searched through it for the new bottle of vodka that Jason had purchased the weekend previously. Moving the handgun that Lizzy had requested we keep on the property out of the way, Lucy found the bottle and pulled it out, placing it on the dining table before she locked the cabinet back up like nobody had got into it and, more importantly, taken the vodka.

"You're a naughty one, aren't you?" Jesse teased as Lucy walked passed him and into the kitchen to get drinks sorted for them both.

"There's a difference between breaking the rules completely and bending the rules to have fun," Lucy grinned.

Jesse nodded as Lucy handed a cup to him. "To having fun," he smiled, raising the cup to her.

"To having fun," she laughed, bring her cup next to hers.

* * *

"Mr. Miller," Eve smiled as she laid on top of the messy bed covers in the hotel, admiring the view out the window of Los Angeles in the moonlight with the city lights illuminating the sky. "Could I have a cup of tea?"

"Certainly, Mrs. Miller," Jason laughed as he walked out of the bathroom, sporting a towel skirt, and grabbed the room service phone from the dressing table in the corner of the room.

* * *

By midnight, the entire party had emptied out, apart from the odd few but the music hadn't decreased in volume at all. As Lucy continued to dance along to the music with her friends, along with the ones she had made that night thanks to Sophie, Summer and Crystal's encouragement, the front door opened and in walked a woman and a man - obviously a couple by the way they were holding hands. The woman with long, strawberry-blonde hair walked into the lounge, searching the room, as if looking for somebody in particular. As soon as Lucy realised there was adults in the premises, she walked over to them.

"Are you Lucy?" the man with dark hair asked.

"Yeah," Lucy smiled, ushering Sophie to turn down the stereo in the corner of the room.

"I'm Ben. This is my wife, Vivien," the man said, introducing himself and then the woman.

"You're neighbours?" Lucy presumed.

Ben looked at Vivien, who looked back at him. "Um, yes. We live next door."

"We don't mind you having a party. When I was your age, I was always having parties," Vivien continued. "It's just we've got a newborn son and, while he hardly cries, we're having trouble getting him to sleep."

"Would you mind turning the music down just a bit?" Ben asked.

"Of course," Lucy smiled. "We didn't mean to have it on too loud. I suppose we just got a bit carried away."

"Thanks," Vivien replied with a sincere smile across her face as Ben had already began to leave the room.

As soon as Vivien and Ben had left, Lucy turned to Jesse, who was sat with some of his friends on the sofa drinking as they joked about. Grabbing hold of her hand, Jesse pulled Lucy onto his lap and grinned at her as he pushed her hair out her eyes with his fingers. Sophie, Summer and Crystal, who were all dancing in the corner of the room, stood giggling at them as they looked into each other's eyes, talking. Not after long, Lucy stood up from the sofa and held her hand out for Jesse to take. As they disappeared up the stairs, Tate, who was hiding behind the entrance hall's wall, peeping around to the staircase, looked up as Lucy was leading Jesse up to her bedroom. With the ringleader indisposed, Jesse's posse stood up from the sofa and left the house, seeming disappointed. Collapsing back onto the sofa, Sophie groaned to herself, hiding her eyes with her hands.

"So much for getting some action?" Summer joked, nudging Sophie with her elbow.

"It'll happen," Sophie paused. "One day."

Meanwhile, upstairs, Lucy was laid beneath Jesse as they kissed, each other's hands in each other's hair. As things began to heat up, Lucy pulled away and looked into Jesse's eyes.

"I really like you, Jesse," she confessed, looking nervous as she waited for a response.

"I really like you too," he smiled, leaning back into her as he went to resume his lips' position on her lips.

"No, I mean, I really like you. I don't wanna do this if you don't feel the same way about me and you're just gonna add me to your tally," Lucy sternly said.

Jesse looked at her, a little offended. "My tally? Lucy, I don't have a tally. And even if I did, which I don't, I wouldn't even have two on there."

Lucy looked a little relieved as she began to kiss him again.

"Lucy," Jesse paused as he pulled away. "Are you.. are you a virgin?"

Lucy looked up at the ceiling as he rolled off her. Biting her lip, she decided to tell him the truth. Regardless of the outcome, she knew she needed to be straight with him if she wanted this to get into anything serious. "Yes."

"I won't hurt you," Jesse smiled. "I promise."

Climbing on top of him, Lucy began to kiss his neck. As Jesse and Lucy began to undress each other, Tate, who was hiding beneath the bed, looked out at the shadows of the couple on the wall with rage in his eyes.

* * *

Looking across to see Lucy, who was laying on the bed with the duvet covering her naked body, Jesse smiled and kissed her forehead, being careful as to make sure she didn't awake. Grabbing his shirt and jeans that laid on Lucy's bedroom floor, Jesse got out of the bed and climbed into his shoes. He wouldn't usually get completely dressed to go downstairs to get a drink, but hardly knowing anyone who was downstairs and with the slim chance of Lucy's parents turning up unexpectedly, Jesse wasn't risking it. As he walked out of her bedroom, he took a quick glance back at Lucy over his shoulder and began to walk down the stairs with a huge smile across his face. By the time Jesse reached the hallway, he realised Sophie, Summer and Crystal were all still awake, sat in the lounge, watching late night television with a big bowl of popcorn. Creeping across the hallway, making sure he didn't disturb the girls as an intervention hosted by his latest love interest's best friends was the last thing Jesse wanted right now. Getting a bottle of water from the fridge, Jesse sat down at the breakfast bar and placed the cool bottle to his lips. As he took a sip, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I thought you were sleeping," he laughed, but as he turned around, the laughter disappeared.

"You better not hurt her."

"Hurt Lucy? I wouldn't. That's the last thing I'd ever want to do," Jesse replied to Tate.

"Good, because you see, you're not gonna get the chance to hurt her."

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked.

"You're going to leave her alone, aren't you?" Tate smiled slyly with wide eyes as he stared at Jesse, who was sat on the breakfast stool, looking a little frightened.

"Who are you? Lucy didn't mention anything about a brother."

"Who I am isn't the issue here. You're not going to hurt her. She doesn't deserve to be hurt."

"I've already said. I'm not going to hurt her. I wouldn't want to hurt her. I really like her."

Instead of replying to a confused Jesse, Tate turned around and walked back into the hallway and towards the basement door that was wide open, letting the darkness from the floor below flood into the already darkened hallway. The moonlight shone in through the stained glass window of the back door and into the hallway, leaving a coloured glow shining on the wooden floor beneath it. Walking down the steps, Tate knew fine well what he was planning. His scheming eyes, blood shot with anger, stared into the darkness as he took another step down into the pitch black basement. Jesse, concerned as to what the creepy stranger was on about, followed Tate down. As soon as Jesse got half way down the stairs, the door at the top of the stairs that led to the deserted basement shut, leaving him in total darkness. Feeling around the cold walls with his shaking hands, Jesse carefully made his way down the stairs until a huge force pushed against his back, causing his to fall down the steps. Landing at the bottom with a heavy thud, Jesse called out for help. A light above his head began to flicker, showering the room with light for a split second - just long enough so Jesse could push himself up from the floor and walk into the middle of the room. Before Jesse knew what was happening, Tate raged towards him, pushing him back to the ground.

"You think you can just come in here like you own the place, don't you?" Tate shouted as Jesse laid motionless in the middle of the floor - his eyes filled with terror.

"I didn't mean to. I'll leave Lucy alone, I promise. Just let me go."

Jesse's pleas were useless. Tate grabbed hold of the light switch and turned it on properly. Slowly making his way towards Jesse, Tate began to laugh. "You think that's enough for me to let you go?"

"I don't know what you want from me," Jesse continued to plead. "I promise I'll leave Lucy alone. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Jesse, that's your name, right?"

Jesse nodded ferociously, trembling with fear as to what Tate was capable of.

"Thought so since that's what Lucy was screaming out as she came - her body spasming as she climaxed," Tate smirked.

"If you're her brother, you're sick," Jesse shouted as he attempted to get up, only to be kicked back to the ground.

"I'm not sick," Tate protested, kicking Jesse over and over again until he laid back down on the floor, curled up in a ball of agony. "I'm not fucking sick."

"Help!" Jesse screamed - his voice quivering in horror..

Tate began to laugh. His laugh resembled an evil cackle as he continued to watch Jesse scream for help. After a few screams, Jesse stopped and looked at Tate, who was still laughing. "There's no point screaming. These walls were made for murder. They don't call it 'Murder House' for no reason."

Jesse looked back at Tate, feeling hopeless. They both knew Jesse wasn't getting out of here alive.

"Go get him," Tate ordered to thin air before walking back up the stairs.

Jesse watched through tears of terror as Tate disappeared from view. As the door at the top of the basement opened and then closed, the lights began to flicker. Taking a sigh of relief, Jesse began to sit up, clutching onto his stomach from where Tate had continuously kicked him. Jesse began stumbling around the basement in an attempt to climb up the steps to safety, but before he had the chance to climb the stairs, someone - something - bit his leg. Dragging him back to the floor, Jesse let out a deafening scream as teeth gnawed at his leg. Looking down at what was attacking him, Jesse screamed even more as he saw the black eyes and the blood stains fangs. Wisps of white hair clung to the white as snow head of his attacker as it continued to munch away on Jesse's leg. Long talons clawed away at Jesse's skin, revealing his flesh as Jesse continued to scream. Slowly the scream turned into whimpering. Slowly the whimpering turned into silence. Tate, who was stood at the top of the stairs of the basement, listening to the scenes that were unfolding below, soon realised the creature that went by the name of 'Infantata' had done the deed.

"You're not going to hurt her," Tate whispered before he reopened the basement door and walked out.

Flipping his hood up on his hoodie, Tate walked towards the front door, unlocking it and opening it up. As he closed it, he made sure the girls in the lounge, who were engrossed in a movie, heard the door closing.

"Was that the door?" Crystal asked Sophie and Summer as she looked up from the bowl of popcorn.

"Yeah," Sophie said as she walked over to look out the window to see a hooded figure walking down the path towards the main road. "Jesse's just left."

"Poor girl," Summer sighed, looking up at the ceiling as she thought about how Lucy would react in the morning to realise Jesse had done a runner without explaining himself to her.


	3. Jesse - Part Two

**Chapter Three - Jesse [Part Two]**

Scrubbing the floor with a brush, Sophie sighed as Crystal rearranged the cushions on the sofa to hide the red wine stain on the backrest. "Hangover and cleaning fumes do not mix well," Summer groaned as she wrapped herself around a bucket as she sat in the corner.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get rid of all the cups and empty glasses somewhere," Sophie ordered, chucking a roll of bags at Summer as she threw up in the bucket.

Reluctantly, Summer grabbed the roll from the floor beside her and stood up, taking deep breaths as she did so. Making her way into the kitchen, Summer opened one of the bags up and scooped all the empty cups and glasses into it. Tying a knot in the top of it, she began to walk towards the back door to put it in the trash can when she was overcome by the urge to throw up again, like she had been experiencing all morning since she awoke. Debating on whether to do the right thing and place them in the trash or just dump them before she vomited all over the floor, Summer quickly decided. Opening up the basement door, Summer hurriedly hurled the bags down the stairs before closing the door and darting off in the direction of the kitchen sink.

"Make sure you wash that out," Sophie instructed as she carried the scrubbing brush back into the kitchen.

Gargling water, Summer looked over at Sophie before chucking up again in the sink. Meanwhile, up the stairs in Lucy's bedroom, Lucy began to stir, reaching her hand out onto the other side of the bed, expecting to find Jesse laying beside her but instead, her hand fell onto the empty bed. Sitting up in confusion, Lucy looked around the room to realise none of Jesse's belongings were where he had left them the night before. Putting her hand over her head, Lucy fell back into the pillow and let out a deep sigh of disappointment.

"Knock, knock," Crystal smiled as she opened the door, carrying a mug of coffee towards Lucy and placing it on the bedside table. "How you feeling?"

"Terrible," Lucy confessed. "I've never felt so crappy in my entire life."

"Well, I'm sure that's not true," Crystal laughed, sitting on the end of the bed as she looked at Lucy with a sympathetic look across her face. "Haven't you ever been so drunk before that you wake up the morning after and feel like your head is on fire?"

"It's not that," Lucy sighed. "It's just.."

"We know you and Jesse, um, how do I say this?" Crystal paused. "Got it on."

"He must have left during the night," Lucy mumbled as she nursed the coffee mug in both her hands, savouring the warmth.

"There's probably some explanation with it though," Crystal smiled. "He surely wouldn't just leave with no valid reason. I mean, he seemed really into you last night. He couldn't take his eyes off of you."

"Yeah, but I screwed it up last night."

"How could you screw it up?" Crystal asked as she stood up from the bed and walked over to the windows, drawing the curtains back and letting the sunshine into the room.

"I kind of told him I really liked him and didn't want him to hurt me."

"What did he say to that?"

"He said he really liked me too and din't want to hurt me either."

"Well then, there you go," Crystal smiled.

"Get out of bed, fat ass and get down those stairs. I'm not slaving away cleaning up a mess by myself while Summer is puking up all over the place," Sophie said as she walked into Lucy's bedroom, like the domestic goddess that she had suddenly turned into.

Reluctantly, Lucy crawled out of her bed and grabbed her dressing gown.

* * *

Getting out of the car, Eve looked over the roof of the car towards Jason. "Thank-you," she smiled as they began to walk down the path and into the porte-cochère of their house. "I really needed to just get away after all the stress of mom dying and the move. Even if it was just for a night, it's really put things into perspective."

"Let's go see if the house is trashed," Jason laughed as he opened the front door to find the house miraculously clean and tidy.

Eve looked around in amazement. It was even cleaner than it was before. The wooden floors shone with the sunlight that streamed through the Tiffany stained glass windows from the polish that Sophie had spent all morning doing. The windows gleamed with a sparkle from the cleaning that Crystal had spent all morning doing. The rugs that lined the lounge floor and led into the hallway were dust-free from the vacuuming that Lucy had spent all morning doing. The kitchen glistened as it was spotless from the cleaning Summer had spent the majority of the morning doing after she recovered from her hangover. "My God," Eve beamed.

Jason and Eve walked into the lounge in astonishment as they found Lucy, Sophie, Summer and Crystal huddled beneath a blanket on the sofa, watching MTV on the television that had also been cleaned.

"Did you guys have your sleepover last night or did you just spend the night cleaning?" Jason joked.

The girls turned around and smiled at Lucy's parents. "We kind of have a confession, Mr. and Mrs. Miller," Crystal blurted out.

"No," Lucy whispered, gritting her teeth at Crystal in an attempt to keep it all hush about the party - what her parents don't know doesn't harm them, as they say 'ignorance is bliss'.

"What would that be then?" Eve asked, raising her eyebrow at her daughter that was surrounded by her friends, looking guilty as she hid beneath the blanket.

"We had a party last night."

As soon as Sophie confessed, Lucy felt herself shrinking to the size of a thimble. Instead of receiving the expected telling off that Lucy was dreading, Jason began to laugh, followed by the laughter of Eve. "I told you she wouldn't end up just having a sleepover," Jason grinned. "That's my girl."

"Well, if you clean the house this well after a party, you can have more parties like this," Eve joked.

"Mum, this is Sophie, Summer and Crystal," Lucy smiled, introducing her friends but she couldn't help but feel relieved by her parents' surprising reaction.

"Nice to meet you girls," Eve commented, smiling a warm smile to them.

Eve was happy that her daughter had managed to fit into her new school well. Although Lucy was seventeen years of age - nearly an adult, Eve still thought of her as her baby girl. The Miller family had been in the same house since the day Eve found out she was pregnant, meaning Lucy had grown up with the same bunch of friends around her. When they decided to relocate to Los Angeles and leave their lives behind in London, Eve was reluctant to let Lucy join the local community high school as she had the fear that she wouldn't fit in as she didn't know how to deal with these sort of situations - she hadn't had to deal with anything like this before.

"Thank-you for letting us stay over last night, Mrs. Miller," Summer thanked.

"Yeah, and thanks for being okay with us having a slight get together last night," Sophie agreed, turning the television off.

"We thought it would be the perfect way for Lucy to meet some new people from our school," Crystal added.

Jason walked back into the hallway, carrying his and Eve's suitcase up the stairs. "Girls, call me 'Eve'," Eve smiled as she sat on the sofa, picking up the corner of the blanket that covered the girls and placing it over her lap. "So, any gossip of the party? Any boys?"

Sophie, Summer and Crystal all looked at Lucy. Feeling like she had a thousand eyes on her, Lucy stepped out of the blanket and into the kitchen. "Anyone want a drink?"

* * *

Looking up at the summer sky through her sunglasses, Lucy smiled to herself. Regardless of how things were left with Jesse, things were on the up since moving to Los Angeles. The golden sun twinkling in the sky always put a smile on Lucy's face, especially since it was such a rare occasion to witness a sunny day back in England - a plus side to living in California. Instead of going for a casual stroll in the sunshine, Lucy was on a mission of apology to the couple from last night who got disturbed by the music. The music wasn't that loud so Lucy managed to narrow the search down to three house. Lucy walked the slight distance down the road to her next-door neighbours' house and knocked on the door, stepping back slightly as she waited for the door to be opened. The door opened and a young woman - she couldn't have been more than thirty - stood in the doorway, dressed in gym clothes, holding a yoga mat under one arm.

"Hey," the woman smiled as she looked at Lucy.

"Hi. Do you know where a couple live around here? They have a newborn baby apparently," Lucy began to explain. "The woman has hair to about here," she pointed to her ribs to indicate the length of the woman's hair. "And the man's quite tall. I think they were called Vivien and Ben?"

"No, sorry honey," the woman apologised.

"It doesn't matter then," Lucy smiled. "Must have the wrong street address."

"Sorry."

As Lucy began to walk back down the path of the woman's house, she sighed to herself. Finding the couple to apologise was becoming harder than she originally thought. Walking up the path of the second house, Lucy looked up at the house in fascination - no house on this street was identical, yet it looked nice with all the mismatch houses. Knocking on the front door, she stepped back and waited again for a response.

"Hello," Lucy greeted the elderly man as he opened the door. "Do a couple live here? Vivien and Ben?"

"No, sorry," the man replied. "I don't know anyone around here called Vivien or Ben."

"It doesn't matter then. Thank-you for your help."

Turning around to walk back to her house, Lucy was about to give up on the search for the mysterious couple. They obviously didn't want to be found. After contemplating to herself about going back to the house, Lucy decided to try one final house before she gave up. The neighbours on the other side of her house had the iron gates at the bottom of the garden locked tight so that nobody could get in, and presumably out from the way that they had been bonded together with metal clamps. Ringing the bell on the gate, Lucy waited for somebody to answer the intercom as she looked through the opening in the gate and down the path towards the house. The house looked so unloved with the grass of the grounds overgrown and surrounded in litter.

"Hello. Who is it?"

Surprisingly, the voice on the other end of the phone wasn't what Lucy expected. She expected an elderly voice with a creepy sense about it, but instead she was met with quite a polite and well-pronounced Southern accent. "Hey, it's Lucy. I'm the daughter in the family that have just moved in next door at number 939. I was just wondering if a Ben or Vivien live here?"

Lucy waited for a reply but the intercom seemed to go dead. It was as if there was no such people called Ben and Vivien that existed to these people. None of it made sense. Just as Lucy was about to give up and walk back to the house after trying her best to find the couple to apologise, the intercom began to buzz and the gates slowly opened wide enough to let Lucy in. Hesitantly, Lucy walked down the path at a cautious speed, unsure of whether she should just turn around and run back home. Something didn't feel right about the house. "This looks more like 'Murder House' than ours," Lucy whispered to herself as she studied the house that looked like it had been untouched for years. By the time Lucy reached the steps that led up to the front door, it opened and a woman appeared in the doorway.

"Come on in," the woman warmly insisted, stepping aside to let Lucy into the house. The house was the complete opposite to the outside - it was like Lucy had just walked into a completely different dimension. The polished floors glinted; the windows gleamed; the carpets were spotless and fluffy as if they had never been walked on before. Antique furniture filled the rooms in a stylish way. The house complemented the woman's high standard of class. "I'm Constance Langdon."

"Lucy Miller."

"Come through to the kitchen," Constance smiled, leading Lucy into the kitchen. Ushering Lucy to sit down at the table, Constance got a pitcher of juice that was stood on the side along with two glasses. "It's cranberry."

"Thank-you, Ms. Langdon,"

"Call me Constance, please. I insist."

"Thank-you, Constance," Lucy corrected herself.

"So, tell me, Lucy. When did you and your family move next door?" Constance asked. "I've only just returned to Los Angeles from a vacation."

"Three weeks ago today," Lucy replied, sipping on her glass of juice.

"And is it just you and your mother, father?" Constance asked.

"Just me, my mum and my dad now," Lucy nodded. "My nan did live with us for a short time but she sadly passed away at the start of last week."

"Is that an English accent I sense?"

"It is."

"London?"

"Yeah."

"Lovely place. Never visited it myself but my late husband used to travel a lot and promised to take me." Lucy sat awkwardly, holding onto the glass of juice as Constance sat looking out the window in a daze. "Hugo was a drunk though. A drunk who loved whores."

"I don't mean to be rude, Constance, but can you help me locate Ben and Vivien please?" Lucy asked.

"He was the same," Constance continued, presumably going on about Ben. "He loved a good whore too. His last whore, Hayden, was the same as the whore I found my Hugo with. The thing with girls like that is they think they can have any man they want and the man will drop the world for them, regardless of who they hurt. Whores don't think about the women married to these men. They're only out for one thing - a few quick shags. Hugo ran off with his whore. Haven't heard from him in years. He left me to take care of our four children by myself."

"Do you know where Ben and Vivien are now?"

"Ben and Vivien?" Constance repeated. "They died in that house you now call home. Three years ago. Vivien died during childbirth and Ben couldn't deal with the loss of his so called beloved wife. Their daughter, Violet, was a strange one and ended up running away with the baby. Nobody knows where they are. Neither of them have been seen for the past three years. Disappeared off the face of the Earth." Lucy looked at Constance in confusion. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter now," Lucy smiled. "It was probably just some sickos playing a joke on us."

Constance looked at Lucy with a suspicious look before she flipped open the cigarette packet that laid on the table in front of her and took out a cigarette, placing it in her mouth and then lighting it. Blowing the smoke out of the corner of her mouth, she looked back over at Lucy, offering her a cigarette.

"No, thank-you," Lucy politely refused. "I don't smoke."

"It helps me deal with the stress," Constance explained, staring coldly at the cigarette that was propped between her fingers.

"Well, thank-you for the juice but I really had be getting back to my house," Lucy smiled. "I promised my parents I'd help sort out dinner."

"Take care," Constance said as she remained seated at the kitchen table, watching Lucy closely as she stood up and left the kitchen, walking down towards the front door of the house.

As soon as Lucy got out of the house, she rushed down the path and squeezed through the gate before closing it behind her as fast as she possibly could. Something about that house didn't feel right. Something about the woman didn't feel right. Watching Lucy from the attic window, Constance continued to puff away at her cigarette.

"Where are you, Michael?" she sighed to herself before rushing out of view.

Walking through the porte-cochère of her own house, Lucy glanced back at her neighbour's house and shivered. Strolling back into the lounge to find Eve and Jason fast asleep on the sofa, Lucy sighed to herself and quietly made her way up the stairs towards her room to study. She couldn't afford to not have any idea what Ms. King was on about in chemistry, especially since she wasn't sure how things would be with Jesse when she returned to school on Monday morning.

* * *

Dumping her school bag on the desk, Lucy looked around at the class with a blank look on her face. Ms. King was stood by the board, writing essays upon essays of notes on it in a barely visible ink - like usual. All the other students were sat at their places, discussing what they had done over the weekend. Lucy glanced across her desk to see Jesse wasn't in his place, which was strange, especially for him. Since Lucy's first chemistry lesson, Jesse was always on time - if not before. Nine o'clock struck on the clock but it soon past. Lucy couldn't help but wonder if Jesse hadn't turned up to chemistry so that he could avoid her. Although she was putting all her effort into listening to what Ms. King was talking to the class about and making relevant notes, Lucy found it impossible. Where the hell was Jesse?

* * *

Sitting at the desk in the study, Eve began to type out her business proposal. Flicking through the research Eve had already conducted to put in her plan, she sighed to herself. Financial data sheets covered the desk and spilled out onto the sofa as Eve glanced over them, inputting the date into her proposal. Competitive analysis of the current industry sheets were all scattered around the floor, in vision of Eve as she tried to get it all sorted. Pulling her long brown locks into a ponytail, she began to get into the proposal. Her fingers battling each other on the keyboard of her laptop as she typed it up.

"Hello," a voice called from the hallway.

Eve looked around the room in confusion. Getting up from the chair, she walked out of the study and into the hallway to find a woman stood in the middle of the room, looking around the house. "Can I help you?" Eve asked, quite annoyed at the fact that this stranger had just stormed their way into her house, without so much as a knock.

"I'm Constance. I live next door. I just wanted to come have a look around. I was quite close to the previous neighbours. Lovely family they were."

"Would you mind coming back later?" Eve asked. "I'm just in the middle of something right now."

"Don't worry, I won't be long," Constance insisted emphatically, waltzing into the kitchen. "I love what you've done with the place."

Eve looked at her rude neighbour in disbelief before reluctantly engaging in conversation. "Yes. We decided to take it back to the original decor and keep it as authentic as possible."

"You have such lovely stuff," Constance commented as she admired the vase that stood on the kitchen counter, holding daffodils.

"Thank-you."

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm just in the middle of setting up my own hair salon," Eve smiled proudly.

"Business woman?" Constance questioned. "I believe a woman's job is to raise the children."

"Our only daughter, Lucy, is old enough to look after herself now and owning my own salon has been a lifelong dream," Eve began to explain. "I used to work in a salon back in London but decided that the move to LA would be my chance to get my dreams."

"So young," Constance smiled, circling Eve. "So naive. I thought that too when I moved here, but I was so young - I didn't know any better. Los Angeles isn't a city where dreams are made. Los Angeles is the a city where dreams are smashed."

Stood uncomfortably in the middle of the kitchen, Eve smiled at Constance, unsure of what to say or do.

"Anyway, I'd love to stand around and chat but I can't. Would you mind if I just had a quick look around?" Constance asked. "I was quite close to Ben and Vivien when they lived here - they were like family to me."

"Sure," Eve nodded.

As Constance disappeared up the staircase, Eve looked after her in confusion. "Strange woman," Eve whispered to herself, shaking her head slightly before she returned back to the study to continue with her business proposal.

Upstairs, Constance paraded into each room with a mission. "Michael," she growled, searching under each bed and in each wardrobe. "This isn't funny."

* * *

Strolling into the maths classroom, Lucy spotted Tammy at the back of the classroom. As Lucy sat down beside her, Tammy shuffled the chair in the opposite direction and continued to scribble doodles on her notepad.

"Hey," Lucy smiled.

Tammy remained silent, as if she was ignoring Lucy.

"I guess you heard about the party then?" Lucy asked.

Tammy put her pen down and looked at Lucy. "Of course I did. Did you think I would be the only person in the entire school that wouldn't hear about it?" Tammy snarled.

"Look, Tammy. It wasn't as big as people are making it out to be. There was only about thirty people to begin with but everyone left by 10 o'clock. I wanted to invite you, honestly," Lucy began to explain. "It's just.."

"It's just what, Lucy? I'm not cool enough for your friends? Just because I don't wear skirts that show off my ass or shirts that make my boobs look the size of watermelons?" Tammy argued, talking a little louder than she realised as the people surrounding them had looked around. "No, Lucy. I'm not gonna pretend to be somebody I'm not just because some jumped up bitches don't wanna be friends with me."

Standing up, Tammy grabbed her stuff and began to walk out the classroom. As everyone turned around to look at Lucy, Mr. Lunbridge walked through the door, passed Tammy as she stormed out the classroom. "Can you all look at the board please?" Mr. Lunbridge asked, clapping to get the attention of his distracted students. "I want you to get your algebra books out and turn to page 263."

Scanning through the textbook, Lucy tried to concentrate on the letters and numbers that were appearing on the page but no matter what she did, she just couldn't. Within three weeks since her first day at the new school, Lucy had managed to ruin a potential relationship and now she's screwed up a things weren't looking up as she originally thought they were on Saturday night. By the time Mr. Lunbridge had dismissed the class, Lucy had several missed calls from Sophie, Summer and Crystal. Instead of ringing them back, she headed straight to her locker to get rid of her algebra book that felt like it was going to break her shoulder it was that heavy. Unlocking her locker, she sighed as she stuffed her bag into it and looked down the busy corridor that was full of strangers, recognising only a few of the faces from previous encounters in the corridors.

* * *

Caved beneath mountains upon mountains of files and folders that were crammed full of papers, Jason groaned as he grabbed another file from the top of the pile and opened it. Grabbing a pen from the pot on the windowsill, he began to work through the file - circling and annotating the forms as he went through each sheet, one by one. The corridors outside his office were bursting with noise as patients dashed to appointments and doctors rushed to different departments to deal with a range of emergencies but the office which Jason had spent the last two days catching up on paperwork were silent. One week into the job and Jason was slowly beginning to hate it. If he could, he would have easily swapped the senior doctor position back for a general practitioner dealing with patients in the busy accident and emergency department of St. Guys' Hospital in Central London within a heartbeat. Jason wasn't much for paperwork - even throughout his studying at medical school. Jason much more preferred dealing with patients face-to-face than being stuck behind a mountain of paperwork that didn't help anybody apart from killing trees. Reaching out for his coffee cup that was dumped on the top of the heap of papers, Jason pulled it towards him to find it was empty. Instead of calling for the receptionist that had promised to refill his cup as soon as it was empty, Jason grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and pulled it on. Leaving his office, he locked the door behind him and walked down the corridor without looking back. Strolling down the corridor past all the patients that were still waiting to see Jason's new colleagues, he waved past the receptionists at the reception desk who was occupied by numerous patients with all their different situations and walked straight into the elevator. Watching the floor numbers decrease as the elevator made its way down to the ground floor, Jason finally felt a feeling of relief as he left all the pressure from paperwork deadlines behind in his office. Even though the thought of having to do it all when he got back from lunch was in the back of his mind, Jason felt the weight lift off his shoulders. Climbing into his car, he turned on the ignition and reversed out of the parking spot.

* * *

Chopping up some lettuce and dressing it with a sauce that Eve had just freshly made, Eve looked out the window at the garden. As she did, she imagined everything she could do with it. Ever since she had watched an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Design for the first time, Eve had dreamt of having the perfect house and the perfect garden, designed just how she wanted it to be. As she mixed the salad, she daydreamed about everything the garden could possibly be. Fairy lights strung from the trees, lighting up the water fountain feature beneath it that was sprinkling water over back over the pond. A glass patio set with a parasol beside the already built wooden gazebo for the perfect summer evening barbecues and get togethers. And maybe even a hot tub in the corner of the garden for Lucy to enjoy with her friends during the school holidays and weekends. Maybe.

"Eve," Jason called as he walked into the house, closing the front door behind him.

"I wasn't expecting you to be home until later on tonight," Eve smiled, pleasantly surprised by her husband's impromptu appearance since she wasn't looking to a lunch by herself, especially with her business proposal was taking longer than she initially expected.

"I've decided to pull a late one tonight to get the paperwork finished," Jason explained. "I can't work without coffee so thought I'd come home and get some coffee as the hospital cafe's coffee isn't that nice."

"Not that you wanted to come home to see your darling wife?" Eve joked.

"You know I meant that too," Jason laughed, kissing his wife's cheek before he turned the coffee machine on.

"Well, I've had a bit of a strange morning this morning," Eve began. "I met our next-door neighbour."

"Are they nice?"

"She seemed nice. A bit of a pessimist though," Eve smiled. "I was sat in the study working on the proposal when I heard her someone in the hallway and walked out to find her just stood in the house. No knocking or anything."

"Maybe she's just really into the neighbour community spirit thing," Jason suggested as Eve passed him a bowl of salad before sitting down opposite him at the breakfast bar.

"Maybe, but it's just the way she waltzed in here like she had the right to without permission, just because she was close with the previous owners," Eve sighed.

"But sometimes if you get close with the previous owners and they don't mind you walking into their house without knocking, I suppose it can become a bit of a habit and she didn't realise you wouldn't mind," Jason smiled. "I won't think too much about it, Eve. If you don't feel safe being in the house alone knowing she could just walk in unannounced, just keep the doors locked. I've got a key and Lucy has a key."

"We shouldn't have to though," Eve argued. "This is our home."

"I know, darling. I know."

"This salad is lovely," Eve commented, changing the subject as things were getting a little heated. "I never knew Californian lettuce would taste a bit different to English lettuce but it really does."

"It's nice," Jason smiled, yawning as he poured the coffee from the cafetiere into two mugs - one set in front of himself and one set in front of Eve. "That's one thing. Do you know where the old coffee maker is? I was thinking about installing it in my office at work so I wouldn't have to bother the receptionist in going to the cafe every time I run out of coffee, nor traipse down there myself when I should be getting on with the paperwork."

"What, like you should be getting on with your paperwork now?" Eve teased.

"Have you seen the coffee maker?" Jason repeated, ignoring Eve's dig.

"I think the removal guys put it down in the basement," Eve suggested, getting up from the stool and pushing it beneath the breakfast bar before she placed the dishes in the sink.

Making his way over to the basement, Jason groaned to himself as he opened up the basement door to be greeted by darkness. Unknown to Jason, Jesse's mutilated body laid in the middle of the gloomy basement. The pool of blood that surrounded Jesse's lifeless corpse had dried on the concrete floor where the creature and Tate had left him to bleed to death. Jason was completely unaware that he was about to stumble across the horrific murder that unfolded in the room just two days ago. A foul stench of rotting flesh filled the basement, making Jason wheeze as he held his breath, covering his mouth with his jacket sleeve of one hand as he felt around the cold stone wall, trying to find the light switch. As he finger ran across the switch, the light flickered on. Tate, who was stood in the corner of the room out of sight, stared at Jesse's body, waiting for it to be discovered with a smile across his face - his eyes gleaming with an evil sparkle.

"Oh, Jason, I've found it," Eve called from the kitchen. "It was in the cupboard beneath the sink. It's a bit dusty though."

"I don't know what's down in this basement but the smell is making me feel sick," Jason called back as he switched the light back off and walked out of the basement, shutting the door behind him.

"Well, Marcy did say it would need a deep and thorough clean if we wanted to use it," Eve smiled as she began to clean the dust off the coffee machine. "I'll hire an industrial cleaner to come around and see what they can do with is sometime next week."

Left in the darkness of the cold basement again, Tate raged in anger as his plan of discovery had failed.

* * *

Stood by her locker before she was about to go to the final lesson of the day - Literature, Lucy grabbed her books from the back of the locker and dumped them inside her bag. As she looked at her reflection in the mirror that was hung up on the back of the locker door, she sighed to herself. How was it possible to be so down when the other day she was the happiest she had been in a long time? Just as she was about to apply some lip balm and head off to Literature, two police officers walked down the corridor, separating the students as they parted through the corridor towards where Lucy was stood at her locker, watching the drama unfold in front of her very eyes.

"Lucy Miller?" the stumpy policeman asked as they stopped just centimetres away from where Lucy was stood.

"Yes, that's me," Lucy replied nervously, unsure of what was going and, more importantly, why the police knew her name.

"Would you mind coming with us? We need to ask you some questions," the stumpy policemen said, before he turned around and began to walk back down the corridor, expecting Lucy to follow him.

Instead of following him, Lucy froze by her locker.

"Don't worry, honey," the policewoman that was with the policeman smiled warmly at a frightened Lucy. "You're not in trouble. We just need your help with something."

Hesitantly, Lucy nodded and locked her locker back up before she followed the police officers back down the corridor. As they made their way into the principal's office, all the students that were stood around the corridors of the school gawped at what was going on - although they had more of an idea that was going on than Lucy. Walking into the office, Lucy saw that Sophie, Summer and Crystal were already sat down at the principal's desk, looking as scared as Lucy felt.

"Take a seat," the policeman instructed, ushering Lucy to sit down in the chair that was next to Sophie. "Your parents have been informed that we're questioning you but we just want to ask you a few questions on a casual manner instead of taking you all in for separate interviewing."

"Interviewing?" Sophie repeated.

"Questioning?" Crystal asked. "What's going on?"

"Is it about the party on Friday night? We didn't make much noise and we were hardly drinking. We know we shouldn't have been drinking but.."

The policewoman interrupted Summer before she got the girls into even more trouble - that is, if they were even in trouble at all. "Don't worry, girls," she smiled warmly, trying to reassure the girls who were evidently panicking like crazy. "We just need to ask you some questions about Jesse Porter."

"Jesse?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, Jesse," the policeman confirmed. "We have reason to believe you knew Jesse."

"You could say that," Sophie replied, looking at Lucy.

"Did he attend the party on Friday night?" the policeman asked.

"Yes," Sophie answered. "He brought a few of his friends with him but they left before he did."

"And we have down here that the party was held at your house, Lucy. Are we right?" the policeman asked, completely ignoring what Sophie had just said and following the questions that he had jotted down on his notepad. "939 Berro Drive?"

Lucy nodded, waiting in anticipation to see why they wanted to ask questions about Jesse.

"What time did Jesse leave?" the policewoman asked.

"It must have been about three, maybe four," Crystal replied.

"In the morning?"

"Yes."

"But we have witnesses saying the party ended at about midnight," the policeman stated, looking confused.

"That's because Jesse stayed behind," Summer explained.

"He stayed behind with me," Lucy added.

"So you four were the last people to see him that night then?" the policeman asked.

"I didn't see him as such. I woke up and he'd already gone," Lucy replied.

The policeman gave a suspicious look towards Lucy before scribbling down some notes on his notepad as the policewoman looked at Lucy, trying to reassure her with a friendly smile. "Are we right to assume you two slept together then?" the policewoman asked.

Lucy nodded as she looked down at the floor, trying to hide the fact she was blushing.

"We were downstairs watching movies when we heard the front door open and then close," Sophie began. "I looked out the window to see Jesse walking down the path towards the road."

"Can I ask what do you think has happened to Jesse?" Lucy asked. "I tried to text him on Sunday but I didn't get a reply and he hasn't turned up for school today."

"Why did you text him on Sunday and not Saturday?" the policeman questioned.

"I'm a girl," Lucy replied. "We don't like to come across as clingy. The way Jesse got up and left without waking me or leaving a note just didn't seem like a good sign. I didn't want to come across as needy, especially as.. well, it was my first time. I'm not exactly a pro at this whole thing. I wanted to text him on Saturday but I just thought he would text me. I only texted him on Sunday night to see if we were okay and when I didn't get any answer, I just thought he was ignoring me. I still thought he was trying to avoid me when he didn't turn up this morning for chemistry, but now with you here.. I know something must be up for the police to get involved. I just want to know that he's okay."

"Lucy, Jesse's parents reported him as missing Saturday night - 24 hours after they last saw him. They haven't had any contact from him since and nobody seems to have seen him since he left your house in the early hours of Saturday morning."

"Missing?" Lucy paused, trying to take it all in.

"We're sure he's fine," the policewoman reassured. "We just need to find where he is as his parents are worried."

"We honestly have no idea, sir," Sophie said to the policeman, as he continued to look at the girls with a suspicious eye. "If we knew anything, we would tell you straight away but we've told you what we know."

"Thank-you for cooperating, girls," the policewoman smiled.

"Please find him," Lucy pleaded as the principal entered the room and closed the door behind him, shutting the eyes of the outside world out.

"Lucy, Sophie, Crystal, Summer," he smiled. "Your parents are waiting in the school foyer to collect you. We've excused you from lessons for the rest of the day."

"We're going to do everything we can to find him," the policewoman comforted Lucy, sensing how scared she was.

As the principal led the girls out from his office and towards the foyer, shielding them from all the gossiping, Lucy stared into space as all sorts of thoughts entered her mind. The moment Lucy caught sight of her parents, who were stood waiting for her, she ran up to them and hugged them both tightly. Collapsing into a bundle of sorrow, Lucy clung onto her parents as they slowly began to walk her back to their car to take her home. Sophie, Summer and Crystal all disappeared off with their parents, feeling guilty as they left Lucy to deal with all the gossiping from the students at the school.

"Have you heard what's happened to Jesse Porter?" one girl asked another as Lucy, Jason and Eve walked behind them towards the car park of the school.

"He's gone missing, hasn't he?" the other girl replied.

"Yeah. He was last seen by that new girl at the party at the 'Murder House'. I reckon he's dead."

Storming past the tattling girls, Lucy wiped her eyes as tears slowly fell down her cheek as they walked out the doors to the car park. As Lucy fell into the back seat of the car, Jason and Eve looked at each other and then through the window at their daughter, who was sobbing quietly to herself.

"Don't worry," Eve smiled. "Drop us off back at home and then you get yourself off to work to finish the paperwork. I'll sort her out."

* * *

Circling Jesse's body, Tate looked down on it from his superior position with a glare. Bending down slightly, he examined Jesse's body and smiled. "I told you you'd never hurt with her again," he snarled, satisfied by Jesse's achievement in keeping to his promise. "But I can't keep your body here."

Placing his hands beneath Jesse's arms, Tate began to drag the body across the floor, leaving a trail of blood as he did so.

* * *

As Jason reversed the car back out onto the main road and drove back to work for a long night of battling through the ever-growing mountain of paperwork that never seemed to disappear from his desk, Eve wrapped her arm around Lucy's waist and walked with her, carrying her school bag for her, towards the house. Dragging herself up the stairs to her room, Lucy felt nothing but guilt as she kept thinking of how different things would have been if she hadn't agreed to the party on Friday night. Part of her blamed her friends for rabbiting on about the party until Lucy had no choice to agree with the idea, but the majority of her blamed herself for it all.

"I'll be in the study if you need me," Eve smiled, watching Lucy disappear.

Sighing, Eve walked back into the study to continue with her business proposal without a clue of what was going on in their basement. As Tate reappeared back into the basement from disposing of Jesse's body in a crawl space deep beneath the house, he froze as he realised he was being watched the entire time.

"Violet."

"What are you doing?" the girl, evidently called Violet, asked, looking at Tate in disbelief as she noticed all the blood that was covering the floor. "You haven't, have you?"

"What did you expect me to do?" Tate replied. "Just sit around and watch as he was about to mess her about?"

"Tate, you're meddling with their shit - shit you're not supposed to meddle with. What did I tell you three years ago?" Violet questioned, stepping down the stairs into the basement.

"You told me to leave you alone. You told me to go away."

"So why are you still here, Tate?"

"I can't go anywhere else. We're stuck here forever. Nowhere else to go."

"But that doesn't give you the right to just kill whoever you want. And you know what's going to happen, don't you? He's gonna come back and tell Lucy everything. She'll tell her parents and then you'll get banished again - for good this time."

"How many times do I need to say I'm sorry until you realise that I am sorry?"

"Sorry is only fit when you accidentally smash a plate or when you forget somebody's birthday," Violet paused as she came face-to-face to Tate. "Not when you rape their mother, father their half-brother and then indirectly kill their mother when the baby kills them through childbirth."

"You have to understand. That wasn't me," Tate pleaded, trying to take hold of Violet's hand only to have it slapped away.

"That wasn't you? Wasn't this you either?" Violet questioned, pointing down to the pool of dried up blood on the floor. "Oh, and I bet the corpse that's stuck in there on top of my skeleton isn't your doing either."

"But he was going to hurt her," Tate argued.

"What, like you hurt me, Tate?" Violet asked. Tate remained silent. "No, Tate. That's what I thought. Nobody could hurt anybody like you hurt me. You raped my mom. I can't forget that. I can't forgive that. It makes me feel sick just looking at you."

"You need to understand.."

Violet interrupted Tate before he gave her another feeble excuse. "No, you need to understand. I don't want you here. We don't want you here."

Tate turned around to see an elderly lady stood in the corner, looking at them both through one eye as the other one was clouded over with a greyed appearance. "I'm not even the housekeeper anymore yet I'm still left to clean up all the mess."

"No, Moira," Violet ordered. "Leave it. Tate made the mess. Tate can clean it up."

The elderly lady, assumed to be called Moira, passed over a bucket full of soapy water and a sponge. Tate looked at the bucket and sponge in turn and then back to Violet.

"Violet."

"No, Tate. You're gonna clean this mess up and then you're going to leave this family alone."

* * *

Curled up into a ball in the middle of her bed, Lucy clutched onto a pillow as she broke down and sobbed like a child. Closing her eyes, she couldn't help but question all the what ifs. Eve, who was stood in the doorway, felt her heart break as she watched her daughter crying her heart out, knowing there was nothing that she could do to make the pain go away.

"I know you're not feeling hungry but you need to eat so I made you a sandwich," Eve said in a soothing tone as she walked across the room to Lucy and placed the sandwich plate on her bedside table, moving the docking station out of the way so the plate wouldn't fall off.

Lucy opened her eyes and smiled an unenthusiastic smile that lacked any sense of emotion apart from sadness.

"Oh, come here," Eve sighed as she sat down on the bed and swaddled Lucy with her arms. "I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything."

"I know," Lucy croaked, sobbing into Eve's shoulder.

Eve stroked Lucy's hair, hushing her as if she was still a baby. "Don't feel guilty," Eve comforted.

"He wouldn't have gone missing if I didn't have that stupid party. He wouldn't have gone missing if he didn't come to my stupid party. His parents wouldn't be worrying about him if it wasn't for me. It's all my fault and if something has happened to him, mum, I would never forgive myself."

Eve hugged Lucy even tighter before kissing her head. "None of this is your fault, Lucy. I want you to know that, okay? It's not your fault. I reckon he's just stopped at a mate's for a few days, forgotten to tell his parents and his phone's gone dead so he can't call anybody to let them know he's okay, but he will be okay."

Lucy shrugged her shoulders before looking up at Eve - her eyes red raw, sparkling with the tears. "I don't know, mum. I just wanna know where he is. It's my fault."

* * *

Walking her perfectly pedigree dog down the street and past the Miller's house, Constance glanced up at the master bedroom window and stopped just outside the steps that led to the path that ran all the way to the porte-cochère. As the dog raised its leg up against the wall that ran the perimeter of the steps and let out a stream of urine, Constance continued to look up at the master bedroom window, as if she was waiting for something to appear - like she knew that something was going to appear at any moment. Stood waiting, Constance pulled the dog away from the wall and instructed it to stand beside her with perfect behaviour to complement her perfectly groomed appearance. Just like magic, Constance's expectations were satisfied as Tate appeared in the window, looking down at her like she was worthless. Waving up to him, Constance smiled warmly. Instead of getting a wave back, Tate lifted his left hand up to his head and pointed it to his temple as if his fingers were the barrel of a gun. Lifting his gun shaped hand up, he made a bullet noise with his lips in her direction through the window. Walking back towards her house, Constance took a deep breath as Tate disappeared again from the window into the master bedroom. Across the road, hiding in the bushes, was a silhouette figure that was watching Constance as she made her way through the gates of her house and down the path before disappearing through the doors. The figure slowly began to make its way out through the trees. With a short stature and blonde hair, the figure was revealed to be a young child - no older than four years old. Smiling up at the Miller's house, the child looked down at its hands that were covered in a blood red liquid. Giggling to itself, it began to walk towards the Miller's house as it wiped its hands on its dungarees, transferring them with the stained red substance.


	4. The Anti-Christ

**Chapter Four - The Anti-Christ**

The year was 2011. In the fire lit lounge of the house that the Miller family now referred to as 'home', a woman laid on the table screaming out in agony - her head propped up by a stack of pillows as she was surrounded by a group of people. A doctor and two nurses stood in front of her, splattered in blood as they supervised the doctor's work. A sheet that was once white clung over the woman's legs that were spread as far apart as possible as the woman continued to scream - each scream getting more and more harrowing. A woman with blonde hair that was neatly styled into a modest hairstyle stood beside another man, clasping onto the pregnant woman's hand as she pushed harder and harder as the labour got more and more agonising.

"Vivien, breathe. You have to breathe," the man continued to say, instructing his wife as he watched her. "Vivien, breathe. You have to breathe."

"I need forceps now," the doctor ordered as he realised the situation was worse than he first realised.

"What's happening?"

"It's dystocia. I have to manipulate the baby through the pubic symphysis," the doctor explained as the nurses beside him rushed to assistance.

"I can't," Vivien whaled. "I can't do it. I can't."

"Look at me," her husband softly instructed, trying to encourage her to carry on. "You can do this."

"Doctor Harmon, have your wife stop pushing until I say so," the doctor advised.

"Vivien, can you hear me?" Ben asked his wife, holding onto her hand as she gripped onto it with all her strength. "You have to stop pushing until I tell you."

Letting out a deafening scream, Vivien closed her eyes as sweat dripped down her face. Blood was pouring out between her legs, soaking through the sheets. "It hurts so much."

"Squeeze as hard as she can," Ben instructed, giving her hand an extra tight squeeze with his. "Squeeze."

"I think the girl's ready to stop the bleeding," the blonde haired lady commented to the doctor, watching on in horror.

"Now," the doctor signalled.

"Viv. You have to push," Ben announced to his wife as she let out another scream. "Push. Push. Push!"

"It's coming!"

"You're doing great!"

As the people surrounding the screaming Vivien shouted things at her, she cried out in pain. "Oh God. It's ripping me apart."

"Don't stop, angel," Constance encouraged. "The end is in sight. I can see him."

Bawling at the agony as the baby began to crown, the whole scene seemed to turn into one huge blur of screaming and anxiousness as the baby was being born. Little cries from the baby filled the room as Ben kissed his wife, thrilled that she'd managed to just give birth to a baby boy.

* * *

Looking around the new premises for her salon, Eve grinned with glee. It was also in part incredulousness - she couldn't believe this was happening after nearly two decades of dreaming of this moment to come. "Here's the keys to the office upstairs too," Marcy smiled, handing over two keys to Eve.

"You're gonna be out of business now with us buying all your properties," Eve joked as Jason put his hand on her shoulder in a supportive way. "You'll have nowhere left for you to sell."

"Oh, don't worry," Marcy replied. "That's the thing with a busy city such as Los Angeles. There's always people moving in and moving out. There's always properties to sell."

"I've been looking at the property documents for our house and you've been the realtor for each time the house has been bought for the past three owners so you must know the area pretty well," Jason assumed as Eve walked over to Lucy, who was stood at the window, looking out at the busy street outside.

"I suppose."

"What do you know about the next-door neighbour, Constance?" Jason asked.

Marcy paused as she looked over at Eve and Lucy as they stood by the window, laughing and joking about the plans for the future of the salon. "Constance? Why do you ask?"

"My wife met her the other week and we were just wondering whether you knew anything about her that we didn't already know," Jason explained.

"Constance," Marcy paused. "Let me think."

Jason waited for Marcy's response for a few moments as she remained in a silent state of thought.

"Lovely woman. Had a bit of tragedy over the past with her husband running away with their maid when her children were young. Her son was involved in a school shooting back in the 1990s. Her other son died of natural causes just before that. Then three years ago, she lost her only daughter and last child at home in an awful car accident on the road outside her house."

Jason began to feel sorry for Constance. By the way his wife had kept going on about her, you would have thought she was the neighbour from hell that you hear about on documentaries, but Marcy confirmed that she wasn't that at all.

"I think she's just lonely now," Marcy commented. "Now is there anything else?"

"I think that's it," Jason smiled.

"What's up?" Eve grinned as she walked back over to where Marcy and Jason were stood, accompanied by Lucy, who continued to look around the room.

"Marcy was just asking us if there was anything else we needed?" Jason replied.

"No, I think that's everything," Eve confirmed. "Thank-you so much for your help, Marcy. With the house and now with the salon. I, we, really can't thank-you for everything you've done for us."

"You're very welcome," Marcy smiled. "Now I hope you don't mind if I leave you to it as I have a couple viewing a property in Bel Air and I really need to get there before them and hide all the valuables. I do not trust this couple at all. A couple of celebrity wannabes I think."

"Don't let us keep you."

As Marcy collected all her things up and disappeared out of the salon, leaving Eve to discuss her plans for the premises with her family, Lucy walked to the back room.

"Do you think she's okay?" Jason asked Eve. "I don't think she's been herself recently and I'm getting worried about her."

"She's fine," Eve smiled. "I think she's over the worst of it. She just feels guilty about that guy going missing after the party last week."

"That party was at your house?" Marcy asked, overhearing the couple discussing their daughter accidentally - but knowing Marcy, it was probably intentional. "The boy from Westfield High?"

"Yeah, why?" Jason replied, confused as to what it had to do with Marcy in the first place.

"I heard it on the news and didn't put the two and two together," Marcy commented. "I hope they find him. Such a loss. Such a young age too."

"Yes," Eve agreed, looking at Marcy suspiciously - questioning Marcy's motives behind the question. Did she know more than she was letting on to them?

"Well, I'd best be off," Marcy smiled, carrying her belongings towards the door. "Good luck with the business."

"Thank-you."

As soon as Marcy left the salon, closing the door behind her, Jason looked at Eve with the same look. They didn't trust Marcy as far as they could throw her, which didn't look far at all giving her larger than average build. Reentering the main part of the store that Eve was planning to use as the salon, Lucy flashed a genuine smile to both of her parents - the first smile she had properly smiled all week since learning that Jesse had gone missing. "So what do you think?" Eve asked, grabbing her daughter's hand and pulling her closer so she was stood besides Jason and herself.

"It's so good, mum," Lucy grinned. "I'm so proud of you. You're gonna be an amazing businesswoman and an even better beautician, but I do hope that now you have your own salon that I'll get free styling sessions and beauty treatments."

"When I've opened properly, you girls can have all the manicures and pedicures and eyebrow shaping and head massages and spray tans and hair styles as you possibly could have," Eve laughed, gently holding onto Lucy's cheeks and squeezing them together.

"Get off me," Lucy chuckled, pulling away from Eve, resulting in Eve letting go of her daughter's cheeks. "But mum, you know I'm really proud of you. Don't you?"

"Well none of this would be possible without you two," Eve beamed, wrapping her hands around Jason and Lucy simultaneously and pulling them closer. "I'm not lying when I say you two are my world. I would die for either of you within a heartbeat. I love you two to the sun and back."

"And then to Mercury? Then to Venus? Then onto Mars and Jupiter? Then a bit of an orbit of Saturn? Circle Uranus for a bit and bounce all the way back to luto?" Lucy asked.

"Don't you know it," Eve smiled.

* * *

Walking the short distance down the street towards the estate where they lived, Eve and Jason walked in front, discussing what was next on Eve's agenda into getting the salon open by the deadline she was hoping for whilst Lucy trudged along behind with her headphones, music on full blast - like usual. Humming along to the melody of the song, Lucy was soon interrupted when a vehicle went past her, full of gawping tourists who were led by a familiar face. The whole family began to look down the street at the black, open-topped bus.

"Lucy, don't even think about it."

"Think about what?" Lucy asked, taking off her headphones so she could hear her parents properly.

"Don't even think about going on that tour," Eve confirmed, standing firm as she looked over her shoulder at Lucy, who was looking at the 'Eternal Darkness Tour' bus. "It's just manufactured lies that the tourist industry create to get more money from tourists who will pay money to hear crap and will believe anything they tell them since they possess a little black bus with a loudspeaker."

"Mum, they can hear you," Lucy whispered, noticing how the tour had paused to listen to Eve's rant.

"I don't care," Eve replied before turning to the tour guide. "I think you must be a very sad man to get pleasure out of broadcasting lies about this house. It isn't haunted. It isn't cursed. It isn't any of the things you say. It's a loving family home where we're going to be together for a very long time - happy. Now, I'd really appreciate it if you backed away from my house, get back in your little bus full of other sad people who clearly have no lives and bugger off."

Lucy began to snigger out of the corner of her mouth, partly in disbelief at her mother's unexpected outburst that was so out of character for her.

"Eve," Jason sighed, trying to hide the fact he thought her outburst was highly amusing to set an example to Lucy, who was watching them both closely. "Do you think that was appropriate? They're not exactly doing anything to harm us directly."

"No but there slander is turning our home into something it isn't," Eve argued. "Nothing creepy has happened there, has it?"

"Not exactly," Jason responded.

Both Eve and Jason's attention were drawn to Lucy as they awaited for her answer to back up Eve's argument as the tour guide and his cult watched on. All eyes were on Lucy. She couldn't tell her parents about Tate when she didn't even know about him properly herself. Neither could she tell them about the strange and mysterious appearance of a couple turning up claiming to be neighbours yet not being able to be located in any of the neighbouring houses, nor did the neighbours who actually lived in the neighbouring houses know of a Vivien or Ben. She knew her parents would just assume the worst - like usual - so she decided to keep it all hush. "Not that I know of."

"Lucy, just don't go on this tour, please?"

"I promise."

* * *

"Look it up on YouTube?" Summer suggested. "Your mom said to not go on the tour. She didn't say anything about looking it up on YouTube."

"Summer's right," Crystal added. "Surely there's gotta be someone sad enough to film it and then upload it to YouTube?"

"Just like there's someone sad enough to actually search for it and then watch it on YouTube?" Sophie joked as she sat down on the bed beside Lucy, who was cradling her laptop in her arm, contemplating on whether she should break her promise to her mother.

"It's not sad if it's for research," Summer argued.

"So am I gonna do this or not?" Lucy asked, opening up her laptop and loading up the internet browser.

All the girls nodded as Lucy reluctantly typed in 'YouTube'.

Typing 'Eternal Darkness Tour LA' into the search bar, Lucy sat back and waited for the page to load.

"239 results?" Sophie questioned. "I didn't realise that many sad people came to Los Angeles."

Lucy clicked on the top result, maximised the display to full screen and placed the laptop down on the bed in full view of all four of them.

"We don't have to watch it all," Summer said, hovering the cursor over the time bar at the bottom of the screen and dragging it along.

"That's the house. Go back a bit," Sophie instructed.

As they settled down to watch the tour related to Lucy's house, Tate walked past the room outside her bedroom door. Lucy, catching the sight of Tate out of the corner of her eye, got up from the bed and rushed into the hallway.

"Lucy, where are you going?" Summer asked, pausing the video and looking at Lucy as she disappeared into the hallway.

"Bathroom," Lucy replied, peering around the door before she rushed down the hallway and into her parent's room in search of Tate.

Closing the door behind her, she saw Tate stood by the window, looking out onto the grounds to see life unfolding outside. A child rode his bike down the road. A dog ran for a stick his owner had just threw for him in the garden of the house on the opposite side of the street.

"Hey," Lucy smiled. "You haven't been here in ages."

"I didn't think you wanted me to come here again?" Tate questioned.

"It's not that I don't want you to be here. I mean, you seem to know more about this house than anyone I know."

Tate nodded. "You could say that."

"My friends are here now but once they're gone, I want.." Lucy paused. "I need you to tell me everything about this house."

"Meet me in the basement when they've gone."

"Basement?" Lucy asked. "Why the basement?"

"Nobody can disturb us down there if you want me to tell you everything."

"Okay," Lucy smiled, reluctantly agreeing even though she wasn't entirely sure what she was letting herself in for. "I'll meet you in the basement."

As Lucy ran back into her room, she jumped onto the bed and pressed the play button.

"Ready?" Sophie asked.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" Crystal asked.

"Yes. Just play the God damn thing," Lucy smiled.

All four of the girls' eyes were glued to the screen as the recording began to play. The camera shook a few times as the tour bus made it's way down the street, passing houses that were familiar to Lucy.

"We should have got popcorn," Summer joked.

"You should have said we were gonna do this, Lucy," Crystal added. "I was only at Walmart an hour ago. I could have easily got some."

"Shh," Lucy hushed, turning the volume up on the laptop as far as it would go.

"Our tour concludes with one of the most famous houses of horror in the City of Angels, better known as 'The Murder House'." The tour guide began his speech just as the tour bus parked outside the beginning of the path that led up to Lucy's front door. "Built in 1922 by Doctor Charles Montgomery, an acclaimed surgeon to the stars, for his wife, Nora, a prominent East Coast socialite. But when Montgomery fell on hard times, he became addicted to drugs and developed a terrifying Frankinstein complex. As a way of making money once the debt collectors arrived, Nora organised for Charles to perform operations on young girls in trouble in their basement. An estimated two dozen girls went under Charles Montgomery's knife thanks to his wife, Nora but the souls of the little ones must have weighed heavily upon them as their rein of terror climaxed to a shocking finale in 1926."

"Is that it?" Sophie asked as the recording stopped.

"That's why it's called 'Murder House'?" Summer asked.

"That's shit."

"I don't get why my mum wouldn't let me see the tour when that's all that happened."

* * *

Creeping down the stairs into the basement, making sure that her parents who were sat in the lounge just moments away from the basement door couldn't hear her, Lucy looked around for Tate but there was no sign of him there at all. By the time Lucy reached the bottom of the stairs, she realised Tate was sat on a box in the corner of the room, looking at her with a smile.

"Are you sure you wanna know everything?" Tate asked, taking hold of Lucy's hand and sitting her down opposite him on another box that he'd used as a makeshift seat.

"I'm sure," Lucy smiled confidently.

Waiting eagerly for Tate to begin telling her the history of the house, Lucy failed to realise that her phone in her pocket was ringing - it was on silent like usual. In the house above, Eve was stood by the television screen, ringing Lucy's phone from her own.

"She's not answering," Eve sighed to Jason, who was sat on the sofa, lost in the television programme.

"Don't bug her," Jason smiled, pulling Eve back onto the sofa. "I'm sure she's at her friend's house. They were here earlier when we were at the salon. Just relax. You deserve it."

As Tate began to warn Lucy about what he was just about to tell her, Lucy didn't change her mind at all. "My mum's gonna kill me if she finds out that I've asked you to tell me about the house but I want to know."

Tate took hold of Lucy's hand and placed it on his hand that he rested on his knee. "The year was 1922."

* * *

Inhaling ether through a face mask, Charles Montgomery continued to graft different pieces from separate species onto each other in the basement that he had turned into his own personal laboratory to conduct his Frankenstein style experiments in peace.

"Charles," a well dressed woman called after him as she stormed around the house, looking for her husband - her heeled shoes leaving a clonking trail behind on the wooden floors that ran throughout the downstairs of the house. "Damn it, Charles. Are you down in the basement again?"

Turning the doorknob of the door that led down to the basement, Nora Montgomery began to walk down the steps into the badly lit room to find her husband sat at the metal operation table, surrounded by bottles and jars full of different body parts that belonged to different mammals as he threaded a needle through the skin of a dead piglet that was propped up on the table. "Charles?"

"For God's sake, I'm working," he snapped as his concentration on his 'work' was broken.

"Working?" Nora asked. "I wish. Now come upstairs for dinner. You've made us wait five whole minutes."

Sighing heavily, Charles looked at his work through his cold eyes. "You've ruined it." Abruptly, he pulled off the bat like wing that he had tried to connect to the farm animal's corpse. Throwing the useless wing down onto the table beside the pig, he began to inhale another breath from the face mask, followed by another breath. Exhaling deeply, he stared down at the mask.

Nora, who was sat on one side of the long dining table, looked across the food that was dished out at her husband. Charles looked at their son who was sat at the middle of the table in a high chair, rattling his rattle as he looked at both his parents.

"What have you down to that baby?" Charles asked. "Can't tell if it's a girl or a boy."

"You're a disgrace, Charles," Nora commented as she began to pour the red wine from the bottle into her glass that was set out in front of her. "How you can call yourself a man is beyond me. You think I came all the way here from Philadelphia for this? This life. This house."

"I built you this house exactly the way you wanted it," Charles replied as he looked at his wife as she took a sip of her drink.

"And how many servants do we have?" Nora asked. "Two?" Her husband stood up, trying to avoid his wife's outburst as he walked to get the wine bottle that was beside her. "And I'm expected to do everything else?" Watching Charles pour himself a glass, Nora teared up. "Good, Charles. Drink your talent away. You're a waste. Even looking at you I'm sick to my stomach."

"You'll see. They will write articles about me one day in the Boston Medical Journal."

"Ha!" Nora said, exaggerating her feelings towards Charles' absentmindedness.

Furiously, Charles launched his wine glass across the room, resulting in it smashing against the wooden wall and falling to the floor, leaving a shattered mess.

Nora began to laugh as their son began to cry. "Good, Charles. Break everything."

As both of them looked at their crying son, Nora rang the bell for a servant. In no time at all, an elderly lady walked into the room, dressed in a white and black uniform.

"Daphne, when you hear the baby crying, come in straight away and take him upstairs," Nora ordered as the servant obeyed her order.

"Yes Ma'am."

Trying to comfort the sobbing child. Daphne took hold of the baby from the high chair and removed him from the room. Charles, who had sat back down in his chair at the dining table, was getting starred at by Nora.

"They came again today," she said in a lowered tone. "The bill collectors."

Nora received no response from Charles as he stared down at the table with a hunch in his back.

"Charles. Do you hear me?"

"I'm not deaf," Charles growled.

"Now you listen to me," Nora ordered in a soft tone. "You're going to support this family one way or the other. I've arranged for a girl to come tomorrow morning with sixty dollars cash. She's in trouble. She probably has friends so you'd better not be blotto."

The next morning the front door bell rang and Nora answered it although she knew fine well who it was that she was expecting. "Dorothy Hudson?" she asked, opening the door ajar before opening it fully. "Come on in then."

A young woman with her hair in a neatly styled hairstyle with Hollywood curls walked through the door as Nora instructed her down the corridor and into the bathroom before closing the door behind them. Tying a surgical gown around the girl's neck, Nora looked at the girl's reflection in the mirror. "Such a pretty girl," she smiled. "But you can't become a legend of the silver screen with an obligation hanging on your skirt."

The girl began to cry.

"Don't worry," Nora said as she tried to comfort her, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. "No-one will ever know." Dorothy turned around to glance at Nora over her shoulder before she looked back at her own reflection in the mirror. "But we do require payment up front."

Dorothy ravelled up the bottom of her surgical gown and grabbed a bundle of dollar bills from the top of her stockings. Nora grabbed the money without any hesitation. Tapping some white powder into a glass of water that was already sat by the side of the sink basin, Nora lifted it up and handed it to the nervous girl.

"Here, drink this," she smiled. Watching on as Dorothy downed the water as fast as she could, holding onto the glass with two trembling hands, Nora continued to smile with cold eyes. "That's it. It'll make you forget."

"Charles," Nora shouted as she assisted the girl towards the basement door - her body beginning to flop as the drugs began to kick in. "Are you ready for Dorothy?"

"Yes, dear," Charles replied as he opened the door at the top of the basement stairs to be met by Nora and his first patient.

"You'll have to help her down. She's a bit lousy," Nora commented as she pushed the girl into her husband's care. "Hurry, before it wears off."

Slamming the door behind her, Nora leant against the wooden wall and got a cigarette out of her dress pocket.

* * *

"This little side business went on and on until one girl couldn't keep the secret to herself," Tate said to an intrigued Lucy, who was sat opposite him - her mouth slightly open as she listened to the stories of the house. "And she told her boyfriend what had happened."

* * *

As the phone began to ring, Nora walked over to it and answered it. "Montgomery residence," she said into the phone. "Whoever this is is pestering. You shouldn't be calling at this hour."

"An eye for an eye," the mysterious voice whispered on the other end.

"Who is this?" Nora asked.

"A tooth for a tooth."

"I won't tolerate this nonsense any longer," Nora replied. "My.."

The phone line went dead. Looking at the telephone's handset in confusion, Nora looked over at her husband in disbelief. Sat in his armchair beneath the window, Charles looked on at his wife.

"Charles," Nora called. "I've just had the most peculiar conversation."

With the telephone's handset still in her hand, Nora's facial expression turned from confusion to horror within seconds as she realised what was going on. Dropping the handset, Nora rushed up the stairs and into the baby's nursery. Realising the baby's crib was empty and the window of the nursery was wide open with the wind blowing in, Nora called for her husband. "Charles. Oh my God. Charles. Charles!"

* * *

"The boyfriend wanted revenge so he kidnapped Charles and Nora's baby," Tate continued. "Terrified, the doctor and his wife waited for the ransom demands."

* * *

"This is your fault, Charles," Nora bellowed as she placed the whiskey distiller onto the tray.

A knock at the door soon interrupted Nora's flinging match at her distant husband over blame. Charles walked over to the front door. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded until he opened it up to reveal two policemen stood in the porte-cochère of the house.

Opening up a cardboard box that was clearly marked 'evidence' in big bold black letters, the policemen looked at Charles and then at Nora. Peering over the side of the box, it wasn't long before Charles picked up a jar and observed it. Placing it back down in the box, Charles picked up another one and looked at it in horror. He moved back from the box as fast as he could.

"Charles, what is it?" Nora said as she moved closer to see what was in the box. "Charles."

"Madam, there's no need for you to see this," the other policeman ordered as he burst through the door and restrained Nora back.

Days passed and Nora soon learnt that her baby had died a tragic death - mutilated by the suspected boyfriend of one of Charles' abortion patients. Using his surgical skills, Charles tried to cheat death. Carrying her baby's lace Christening dress down the stairs of the basement, Nora was overcome with grief - just like she had been for the passing days since her baby got taken from her.

"I wanna bury our son in this," Nora smiled a sad smile as she walked into her husband's laboratory.

Charles, who was sat with his back to his wife, was stitching away at something. Confused, Nora looked around the room and then back at her husband, realising what he was doing.

"Charles," she sobbed, moving closer towards him. "What are you doing?" As Charles was threading the needle through their baby's dismembered arm and attaching it to another body part, Nora screamed out in horror. "What are you doing to our baby?"

Charles completely ignored Nora, who at this point was hysterically crying, clutching onto the baby's gown.

* * *

"What he created was ungodly and monstrous," Tate said, looking down at Lucy as he stood up and circled the basement. "And even after they tried again, that thing remained down here to this day."

Lucy didn't know whether to believe Tate or not but as she looked around at the ghastly basement with its darkness and eery feel, she knew she had to believe him. "That's awful," Lucy gasped. "Where is it?"

"Hiding."

"What about that other couple that died here?" Lucy gulped.

"Chad and Patrick?" Tate asked. "Chad discovered that Patrick was cheating with his personal trainer at the gym and tricked him into coming down here. Taking a gun. Chad first shot Patrick before taking the gun and turning it on himself."

"I meant the couple who lived here before I did," Lucy corrected herself.

"I don't know about them," Tate lied, knowing that Violet was sat at the top of the basement stairs, listening to everything that the pair were talking about. "I only know about the Montgomery family and the.."

"You're lying," Violet burst out as she walked into the basement, interrupting Tate. "You're so full of shit, Tate. Don't believe anything he says. He's a grade A liar."

Lucy looked at confusion at Violet and then at Tate, who was looking back at Violet in distress. Tate's eyes were even more bloodshot than usual. As Tate's eyes continued to dagger at Violet, Violet sat down on the box opposite Lucy and looked at her.

"You don't know who I am. You don't need to know who I am. All you need to know is you're not safe while you're spending time with him," Violet explained to a confused Lucy. "Neither is your family."

"Violet.." Tate paused.

"I told you to go away and leave us alone," Violet said, turning to Tate.

"But.."

"No, Tate."

"I don't know who either of you are but if this is your idea of some sick joke then I've had enough of it all," Lucy groaned as she stood up and walked over to the bottom of the stairs. "I don't want either of you to come here anymore. This is my house. If I see either of you here again, I'll call the police."

"Tate, tell her," Violet demanded just before Lucy disappeared up the stairs.

"Tell me what?" Lucy asked, looking at Tate, expecting him to follow Violet's instructions.

"No," Tate screamed.

"You have one minute to leave the house otherwise I'm calling the police," Lucy ordered.

Closing the basement door quietly, Lucy stood with her hands against the cold door in deep thought. She had never been so confused in her whole life. Strangely, she liked the mystery that surrounded this house. It had character and history - something her home in London lacked since it was a new build when Jason and Eve purchased it the moment they knew they were expecting a baby. Walking into the lounge, Lucy's jaw dropped as she noticed her parents were lying motionless on the floor in front of the fire that was roaring and the television that was playing away to itself.

"Mum!" Lucy screamed as she ran over to them. "Dad!"

Feeling for a pulse like she learnt on her first aid course back in London, she felt a little relief when she realised both her parents had a pulse - although it was faint. Looking around, Lucy realised she wasn't alone. Turning to face the little boy that stood in the doorway, Lucy panicked.

"Are you hurt?" she asked softly, noticing the little boy was covered in blood. "Did you see anything?"

Expecting the little boy to start crying with fright, Lucy was surprised to find that the boy began to giggle with a teeth-less grin.

"Where do you live?" Lucy calmly asked the little boy, bending down to his height.

"Cookie!" the little boy beamed with glee as he spotted a plate of cookies on the coffee table in the lounge beside Lucy's parents' bodies.

Glancing at her parents' bodies, Lucy quickly grabbed the plate of cookies and handed them to the little boy. "I need you to help me, okay?" Lucy asked. "You need to tell me where you live."

After getting no response apart from the sound of crunching cookies as the little boy devoured them within seconds, Lucy grabbed her mobile from her pocket to realise she'd had a missed call off Eve. "Fuck," she whispered to herself as she dialled in the police. "Police please," Lucy said after dialling 911. "My parents have been attacked and are unconscious. Also, there's a little boy here. He's covered in blood and I don't know where he lives." Lucy paused as the call operator spoke to her. "Yes. It's 939 Berro Drive."

Sliding her phone back into her pocket, Lucy turned back around to find that the little boy had disappeared up the stairs. As quickly as she could, she rushed back across the room to help her parents. "Mum, dad, can either of you hear me?" she asked. "Please, wake up." Lucy didn't have the faintest idea how to help them, not how this had happened. She ran back across to the basement door in the hope that Tate and the strange girl from before could help them but as she ran down the stairs, she realised the basement was empty - unfortunately for her, they had followed her instructions. Running up the stairs, missing a few steps out as she did so, Lucy hurried back into the lounge to find the couple that turned up at the party two weeks ago were in the lounge, stood over Jason and Eve's bodies.

"Did you do this?" Lucy asked, getting angry as she realised who it was.

"No," Ben argued back, bending down and feeling for a pulse. "They're still alive."

"Do you know who did this?" Vivien asked, walking over to Lucy.

"I have no idea. I was downstairs in the basement with some.." Lucy paused. What did she call them? They weren't exactly friends to her, yet, at the same time and in the same way, they weren't exactly strangers to her. Just because she didn't have the slightest idea as to where they were coming from or how they managed to get into the house, it didn't mean that they were strangers. "With some friends then I came back up to find them unconscious."

"Is there anybody else in the house with you?" Ben questioned.

Lucy remembered about the little boy. "There was this little boy in here when I came up. He looked lost. He must be hurt though as he was covered in blood,"

Ben and Vivien looked at each other as Vivien put her hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Where did he go?" Ben asked, starting to panic.

"Upstairs I think," Lucy replied, confused as to what was going on. Not only was she worrying endlessly about her parents, she had now realised that the little boy could be in danger. "I was going to help him after I phoned for the police but by the time I got back in here, he had gone."

"Don't worry," Ben reassured. "I'll go find him."

"It's going to be fine," Vivien smiled to Lucy as she led her over to the sofa next to where Jason and Eve were still lying unconscious on the rug. "These two look like they've been drugged - not knocked out."

"Drugged?" Lucy asked. "How can this be happening?"

"Vivien!"

As Ben rushed back down the stairs, Vivien stood up from the sofa and looked at Ben. "Is it him?" she asked.

Ben didn't have to say anything. Vivien already knew the answer just by the look Ben was giving her as he made his way into the lounge. They rushed outside the front door, leaving it wide open and leaving Lucy sat on the sofa, confused as to what was going on. Standing up, Lucy walked over to the window to see that Ben and Vivien had cornered the little boy onto the footpath. As the little boy began to wave a kitchen knife around in the air, slashing at Ben and Vivien's arms as they held him back, Lucy ran into the kitchen. One of the bread knives from Eve's beloved knife set that she had got a few years back from an online shopping channel was missing. Darting back through and into the dining room, Lucy pulled out the top drawer of the cabinet and felt around the roof of it in search of the key but began to panic as she realised the key was missing. The tape in which usually kept the key for the drinks cabinet held onto the roof was still there but the key was nowhere to be found. Rummaging through the contents of the drawer to see if the key had fallen out from the tape and was laying amongst the papers, Lucy failed to realise that somebody was stood behind her. Flinging papers from the drawer and onto the floor beneath it, the key was not anywhere in the drawer. Turning around as fast as she could, trying to think of where else the key could have been put by mistake, she saw that somebody was standing right in front of her wearing a black PVC gimp suit.

"Who are you?" Lucy screamed in fright as she ran to the corner of the room in hope of escaping but only to be followed by the rubber man. "What do you want from me?"

Grabbing both of her arms, the rubber man pinned Lucy to the wall and pushed all their force onto her arms so that she couldn't move them. Dangling from a silver chain that looked an awfully lot like the chain that Eve's mother had given to Lucy on her sixteenth birth, the key for the cabinet was hung around the stranger's neck. As the rubber man began to grow closer to Lucy, her breath began to get heavier and heavier as he got closer and closer. Quick thinking, Lucy brought her knee up as fast as she could, hitting the intruder right between the legs. Instantaneously, the rubber man fell to the ground, clutching onto his genitalia as he moaned and groaned in pain. Lucy grabbed the chain from around his neck and bolted across the room, running around the dining table, towards the cabinet. Fumbling around with the lock, Lucy tried to get the key into the keyhole but the rubber man soon jumped up and chased towards her once he realised that Lucy had gained hold of the key.

"Leave me alone!" Lucy bellowed as the rubber man's hands grasped hold of Lucy's wrist, squeezing onto it as hard as he possibly could.

Breaking off his grip, Lucy ran to the other side of the table and grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on - a huge candlestick that was stood in the middle of the table. Bringing up above her head, she hurled it in the rubber man's direction. All of a sudden, the rubber man collapsed to the floor in a heap of latex - resembling the trash collection from a adult sex store. It was out cold. Picking up the key from the floor, Lucy rushed to the cabinet, unlocking the door as quickly as she could and pulling out the handgun that Lizzy had made them swear to keep hidden in there. As she took the gun in her hand, she paused for a moment. With hesitation, Lucy began to walk back to the hallway and proceeded up the stairs, carrying the gun ever so carefully in both hands, making sure her fingers were nowhere near the trigger. Rushing to her parents' bedroom, she looked out the window to see that the creature that she first thought was a little boy had revealed his true colours to Ben and Vivien as they pinned him down. The bloodstained knife was laying on the grass outside the house. The skin on both Ben and Vivien's arms were shredded from cuts that had been inflicted by the boy, who's eyes were beaming bright red. As he tried to gnaw his teeth at Vivien as she held the child down, Ben tried to carry him away from the house.

Aiming the gun out of the window, Lucy took a deep breath. She knew fine well that she could hit either Ben and Vivien with the bullet, killing them instantly, but she also knew that if she didn't do anything, they would both die and that monster - whatever it was that they were holding down - would escape and do more damage to other people. Ben looked up at the master bedroom window to see Lucy stood, holding the gun straight out. He then told Vivien to look. As she looked up, she nodded.

"One," she began to count as the child continued to fight its way to dominance.

"Two," Ben continued, not taking his eye off Lucy as she put her finger on the trigger - her hands trembling with such power.

"Three," Lucy whispered, quickly closing her eyes and pressing the trigger.

As the bullet throttled through the window, smashing the glass as it broke its way through, Ben and Vivien let go of the child. The second the bullet hit the child, slicing through it's body and hitting it straight in the heart, Vivien and Ben dragged it onto the road, straight into the path of an oncoming truck. Blood and guts spewed all over the street as Ben and Vivien rushed back towards the house. Slamming on the breaks, the truck screeched to a halt - its windscreen covered in gore. Jumping out of the cabin, the truck driver rushed over to what was left of the boy's body but there was nothing he could do to save him.

Not long after, the police turned up with their sirens blared as their cars came screeching through the street and parked just in front of the bloody mess that was splattered all over the pavement and road. Lucy stood frozen in the master bedroom window as the police questioned the truck driver, who was an emotional mess at the side of the road. An ambulance turned up and the paramedics rushed out, halting just beside the remains of the boy's body as they looked down - their faces of pure horror.

"We'll sort this out," Vivien smiled as her and Ben walked into the bedroom to console as she continued to look at the commotion on the road.

"One second," Lucy paused as a thought suddenly entered her mind.

Rushing to the chest of drawers beside her parents' bed, Lucy opened up the top drawer and grabbed the first aid box. Emptying out the contents onto the bed, she picked up the bandages and walked back over to Vivien and Ben. In turn, she carefully cleansed their tattered arms that were pouring blood and then wrapped them with the bandages. As Lucy put the box back in the drawer, Vivien and Ben rushed down the stairs, getting to the front door just in time for the police to knock on the door.

"We just saw what happened from the upstairs window," Ben stated to the police officer. "I can't believe it."

"Sir, we had a call here from a panicked girl saying her parents had been knocked unconscious," the police officer said.

"Oh, that's our daughter - Lucy," Vivien replied. "We were taking a nap. We only awoke when Lucy started screaming from the top of her lungs when the little boy ran out the house."

"Do you know who he was?"

"I have no idea," Ben lied. "We woke up and looked outside to see the little boy run straight in the path of the truck. It was horrible."

"Okay," the police officer nodded, pulling out a card from his pocket. "If you have any more information or remember anything else about it, don't hesitate to call us."

"Thank-you officer," Vivien thanked as the police officer walked back towards the path as the paramedics began to scrape the remains of the boy's body up.

Closing the door behind them, Ben looked at his wife as she began to tear us. "He's dead, Ben."

"I know," Ben nodded.

Lucy, who was sat at the top of the stairs, looked down at the couple as they hugged each other. "Who are you?" she asked as she began to walk down each step, looking at them suspiciously. None of this added up. None of this made sense. "You claimed to be our neighbours the other week and now you just turn up out of the blue and this happens. I went to knock on the neighbours' doors the other weekend to apologise to you about the noise and nobody knew who you were. Who are you? I can easily go out there and tell the police."

"Lucy, I think you need to sit down."

Lucy shook her head. "No. You're going to help me bring my parents back around and then you're going to tell us all what you're doing here."

Walking into the kitchen, Lucy grabbed a glass from the cupboard and placed it down onto the counter. As Ben went into the dining room to see if the mysterious rubber man was still there, Vivien went into the cupboard where Eve kept all the cleaning stuff and got out two buckets. Filling the glass up with water, Lucy then mixed in spoonfuls after spoonfuls of sea salt. The three of them all walked back into the lounge and Lucy knelt down beside both her parents. Ben pulled back the coffee table out of the way and helped Vivien as they both laid Eve and Jason across the lounge rug.

"Come on, mum," Lucy whispered as she held her mother's unresponsive head over the bucket that Vivien was holding and forced the salty solution down her throat.

Without any warning, Eve began to splutter, expelling out sick into the bucket as she gasped for breath. As Eve continued to throw up into the bucket, Lucy moved around to Jason and did the same to him - pouring the solution down his throat until it came back up into the second bucket. Leaving her parents spluttering in the buckets, Lucy went back into the kitchen. As she rinsed the glass out and left it on the draining board to dry, Vivien walked into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry for threatening to tell the police," Lucy said as she turned around to look at Vivien. "I know you and your husband saved my life and my parents' lives with what you did and I'm grateful for that. I just don't understand any of this."

"When your parents have come around properly, I promise we'll tell you everything," Vivien smiled, placing her hand on Lucy's arm.

* * *

Running her finger along the pane of glass, Constance tutted as she lifted it off to reveal a dirty finger and a line on the glass where the dirt and grime had been removed. As she was about to make a mental note on hiring a housekeeper since she had no time to clean up the house herself, something outside the window caught her attention. Using her finger to clean the murky glass slightly, she backed away from the window as soon as she realised what had happened. Shrieking a scream of terror, she ran down the stairs and straight out the door.

"My baby!" she cried as the police officers held her back from going any further as the paramedics continued to scrape the blood and guts up. "My beautiful, beautiful baby."

"I'm so sorry," one of the police officers sympathised as Constance broke down in their arms. "There was nothing nobody could do. He just ran out in front of the truck."

* * *

Sat around the dining room table, everyone looked at each other as they waited for Vivien and Ben to explain everything to Jason, Eve and Lucy - just as they had promised. People had began to crowd outside as the news of the tragedy spread. Lucy looked at Vivien and Ben in turn and then back to her parents, who couldn't have looked more confused even if they had tried.

"We're Ben and Vivien Harmon," Ben began. "We are the previous owners of this house."

"But that's not right. The previous owners died," Eve said, shaking her head as she didn't believe any of this was really happening.

"Lucy, you saw us get attacked by that boy, didn't you?" Vivien asked, looking at Lucy.

"Yeah, he nearly sliced all your arms - he was hacking away at them like a maniac," Lucy confirmed to her parents. Ben and Vivien both took off their bandages to reveal brand new skin. There wasn't even the slightest scratch on their arms. Lucy looked in amazement at their arms. "That's gotta be magic."

"Magic. Witchcraft. Cursed," Ben continued. "We're not sure what it is but we're dead. Nothing can harm us."

"You're dead?" Jason asked. "Is this some sort of television show? Are we on Punk'd or something?"

"No. We're dead. We died here three years ago in this very house," Vivien explained. "But we need to warn you. This house isn't safe, not while you three live here."

"We're not leaving this house," Jason affirmed. "It's our home now."

"Just like it was our home too," Vivien continued. "But we died in this house. Somewhere where we thought we would be happy. Somewhere where we thought we would be safe."

"How did you die?" Eve asked.

"That's not important," Vivien nodded, looking over at Eve. "All you need to know is that until this house came into our lives, we were alive."

"Mum, this house has a history that we don't know about."

Eve looked across at Lucy. "I told you not to go on that tour."

"I didn't go on the tour. I just know more than you think I know," Lucy replied.

"Mom. Dad."

"Violet, come here," Ben smiled to Violet, who appeared in the doorway behind where Jason and Eve were sat. Following her father's instructions, Violet walked around the dining table and stood in between her parents. "This is our daughter, Violet."

"And she's dead too?" Jason asked.

Violet nodded. "Overdose."

"This house has some sort of abilities that means whatever dies in this house, can never get out," Vivien explained. "We all died in this house. We can never leave it."

"If you can never leave it, why did you put it up for sale?" Jason questioned.

"With us being dead, we couldn't exactly pay the mortgage or bills," Ben replied. "We had no choice."

"That's why you dragged that boy out into the street, isn't it?" Lucy asked. "You knew that if he died on the grounds of the house, he'd stay here forever." Vivien nodded. "But what was that thing? I mean, it wasn't human. A human child doesn't attack a family for no reason."

"Lucy, have you ever heard of something called the 'Anti-Christ'?" Violet asked.

Lucy nodded her head. "That's like the devil or something like that. Isn't it?"

"It's created when a human and a spirit have a baby," Vivien carried on explaining. "In this house, I got raped by a spirit and gave birth in the lounge. Giving birth to that baby is what killed me. It ripped me open from the inside and I bled to death."

"Marcy, the realtor, told us you died during childbirth and your daughter ran off with the baby," Jason said, struggling to take it all in. He was in two minds as to whether he should believe a word these strangers were saying.

"Marcy is just a bullshitter. Everything she says is just bullshit."

"Violet!"

"Sorry."

"But she's not wrong," Ben replied. "Marcy will say anything and coat everything in sugar just to sell this property. She knows more than she's letting on."

"You're just not safe in this house," Vivien announced.

"We're not leaving," Jason argued.

"But we can't have you and your family hiding away when you have no choice about staying here," Eve sighed to Vivien. "You and your husband can have the guest room at the bottom of the hall. Lucy, you'll have to share your room with Violet, is it?"

"No, we don't expect that," Vivien insisted.

"We don't mind," Eve smiled. "Plus, you know what this house is exactly like. It'll be nice to have someone in the house when we're here. You'll be our security guards."

* * *

Sitting up in her bed, Lucy glanced across the room at Violet, who was laid on the sofa bed that Ben and Jason had carried up from the study into Lucy's room for Violet to use. As Violet flicked through one of her old manga magazine she managed to find in the bottom of the cupboard, she knew fine well that Lucy was looking at her.

"Okay, I can't stand this anymore," Lucy sighed as she put her book down on the bed beside where she was sat and got out of bed to sit back down on the edge of her bed, looking directly at Violet. "You looked like you knew Tate."

"Knew? You could say that."

"Why were you being so cold with him earlier?" Lucy asked. "I know he can be a bit weird, but he seems like an alright guy."

"Yes, he does seem like an alright guy at first but you just wait until you find out the truth of what he's like. When you find out what he's done, you'll soon change your mind and understand," Violet explained in a threatening tone towards Lucy.

"Look, clearly neither of us wanna be in this situation so why don't we just forget every encounter before this and just start a fresh?" Lucy suggested. "I don't wanna share my room with someone who hates me and I'm sure you don't wanna share a room with someone who hates you either. So can't we just try to be friends?"

"Okay," Violet nodded with a slight smile.

As Lucy crawled back into bed, she smiled to herself, satisfied that she had managed to bury - no pun intended - the hatchet with Violet. She never thought she would have to share her room since she was the only child, never mind share her house with a family of ghosts. Once Violet had settled down into her makeshift bed on the sofa bed, Lucy turned the light off and they both tried to get to sleep as the sound of Violet's baby brother's cries filled the hallway behind Lucy's closed bedroom door.

Rocking Jeffrey back and forth in her arms, Vivien hushed him, trying to get him back off to sleep. Ben, who was taking the pillows off the guest bed, looked across the bedroom with a concerned look on his face.

"Are we going to tell them?" he asked.

"We're warned them but they don't want to do anything about it," Vivien began. "We can't do anything else. We'll just have to hope nothing happens and if it does, we'll be here."

Ben reluctantly agreed as Jeffrey began to soothe down.


	5. Deadly Kiss

**Chapter Five: Deadly Kiss**

Kicking a ball as far as he could, Michael grinned to his son, Justin, who pelted across the field as he chased after the ball. "Dad, you've gotta do better than that," Justin yelled as he caught up with the ball and kicked it in a straight line back to his father. "Kick it with more power."

"Why can't you go back to being the little boy who was grateful for the fact I'd come play soccer with him and would be happy with the slightest kick?"

"Because I'm not five anymore, dad," Justin replied as Michael followed his instructions and kicked the football with as much force and power as he possibly could.

"Just remember that I'm not thirty anymore," Michael laughed, bending over slightly and rubbing his stomach to get rid of the stitch.

Chasing after the ball that had hit a tree stump and changed directions as it rolled into the forest beside the field where they were playing, Justin began to shout back to his father. "Dad! When I say more power, I mean more power as well as focusing on the direction too."

"I've had enough of this, Justin," Michael called after his son as he began to collect their belongings up that were dotted around the field. "Collect the ball and I'll be waiting back in the car. We're going home."

Muttering words to himself, Justin walked into the forest in search of the ball that seemed to be nowhere to be found on the outskirts of the forest. After climbing back into his car, Michael turned on the radio and began to scan through the radio stations for the rare chance that there was a decent song playing on one of the many stations available.

"I can feel it coming in the air tonight, Oh Lord," Michael sung along to Phil Collins' In The Air as it played on the radio. "I've been waiting for this moment, all my life, Oh Lord."

Bracing himself for the infamous drum solo of the song, he raised his hands from where they were resting on his knee. Using his fingers as the drumsticks, he began to tap the steering wheel ferociously to the beat of the song - his eyes closed as he did so, imagining that he was hit all time hero, Phil Collins. As the drum solo finished, Michael opened his eyes to realise that Justin was stood in front of the car with his hands wide out in front of him, covered in blood. His usually tanned face was as pale as snow as he stared into the car with a petrified glare. Michael, unsure of what had happened and why his son was covered in blood, jumped out of the car and rushed around in aid of Justin.

"What's happened?" Michael began to panic, searching Justin's body for any sign of a wound or source as to where the blood was coming from. "Where are you hurt?"

"Dad." Justin paused, shaking his father off as he continued to look at his son's arms for any cuts. "Dad. It's not my blood."

"Then who's blood is it?" Michael asked with a look of concern across his face as he stared at his son.

Justin's whole body was shaking as his heart began to race. "There's a body. There's a body back there in the woods. It looks like.." Justin paused. "I think it's him, dad. I think it's his body."

Michael continued looking at his son for a few moments as he plucked up the courage to go back into the forest in the direction that Justin had just ran out of. "Are you sure it's a body?" Michael asked. "Are you sure?"

"It's definitely a body," Justin confirmed. "Dad. It's him. His eyes - his eyes were looking at me. They were filled with fear and desperation. It's him."

Michael took a deep breath in before instructing his son on what to do. "You sit in the car and phone for the police. I'm going to go into the forest and see what's happened. I want you to lock all the doors and do not leave the car until I'm back. Do you understand?"

Taking a huge gulp, Justin nodded before running around the car and into the passenger side. As he locked the car doors and grabbed for his phone that was in the glove compartment, he peered over the dashboard to watch his father head back into the forest. Justin began to dial '911', trying ever so hard to stop his hands from shaking with fear. Speaking to the call operator on the other line, he couldn't help but remember the look on the face he had just discovered moments ago. After hanging up the phone, he began to cry - not just a few tears, a proper sob. Never had Justin felt so scared before in his entire life.

Meanwhile, Michael began to climb over the forest's overgrowth, weaving his way through the trees in the direction where his inner senses took him. Looking all around, Michael searched every high and low for the body his son had mentioned but there was no sign of anything. Just as Michael was about to give up looking, he noticed a rag of fabric through some wild grass in the distance, resembling denim jeans. He rushed over to it but found himself holding back as he got closer. There it was. There was the body Justin was talking about. Pressing his hand against a nearby tree, Michael turned around and bent over, throwing up into the hedgerow as his mind stored the memory of the body that would be haunting him for years to come. Never had Michael witnessed something as bloody as the discovery of the body.

Sitting on the grass beside the car, Justin and Michael stared into the wilderness as they tried to come to terms with what they had seen. Police cars screamed through the deserted road and were left abandoned beside Michael's car as the army of police officers jumped out of their cars and headed straight into the forest. Michael and Justin watched them as they battled their way through the entrance of the trees. One police officer approached the grief stricken Justin and bent down.

"Justin Haynes?" the police officer asked, getting out his notepad from his pocket.

"Yes."

"I believe you're the one who discovered the body."

"Yes."

"We'll need to ask you some questions, if that's alright with you and your father?"

Justin nodded, followed by an approving nod by Michael. As the police officer began to scribble notes down in his pad, police officers began to return from the forest with a look of bafflement on their faces. For a few moments, the police officers formed a huddle on the outskirts of the forest and began to discuss things over before they separated up again as they began to carry out their procedures. Two other police officers walked from the huddle towards Justin and Michael, who remained sat on the grass in silence.

"It's him, isn't it?" Justin asked the police officers as they both had a look of sympathy on their faces. "It's Jesse Porter, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry sir but at this time, we cannot give out information until a formal identification of the body has been carried out," one of the police officers apologised.

"Please," Justin pleaded. "He's my best friend. I need to know."

Both the police officers looked at each other and then back down at Justin. They didn't need to give Justin clarification though - he already knew. Nothing could remove the bloody face of Jesse Porter from Justin's memory.

* * *

Placing the knives on the dining table, Lucy smiled at Violet, who was placing the folks on the other side of the table. Vivien carried in the meals that her and Eve had spent all afternoon cooking, as Eve carried in baby Jeffrey and clipped him into the high chair that had become a permanent fixture at end of the dining table. Jason and Ben carried in the wine and wine glasses as Moira carried in the condiments. As everyone took their places at the table, a sense of unison filled the room. Not only were both the families getting on like a house on fire, they were all thinking of each person around them as family - a dysfunctional family, but a family nevertheless.

"This looks lovely," Jason smiled to Vivien and Eve, who were sat opposite him and Ben. "Well done you two."

"It was mostly Vivien," Eve said with great modesty. "I supervised with a bottle of wine."

"It was both of us," Vivien laughed as she raised her glass in the middle of the table.

"To 'Murder House'?" Lucy suggested as if everybody was waiting for somebody to indicate an idea of what they were going to toast to.

"Murder House," they all chuckled in unison whilst they raised their glasses in Vivien's lead.

Just as they were all about to tuck into the meal that laid before them on the table, the door bell interrupted the buzzing atmosphere.

"I'll get it," Eve insisted as she already stood up from the table.

As they left the room, everyone continued to devour the meal. "So, Lucy, how are you finding school?" Ben asked, trying to engage in a conversation over the dining table to the stranger who had sort of become like an adopted daughter to him.

"It's alright," Lucy smiled politely as she took a sip of the wine from her glass before placing it back down on the table. "Some of the curriculum is completely different to the curriculum that I'm used to but I'm sure it'll just take time to get used to it all and everything."

"You go to Westfield High, right?" Violet asked.

Lucy nodded.

"I hated it," Violet continued. "It was full of stuck up bitches who thought they were better than everyone else."

"Violet!" Vivien dismissed, giving her daughter a disapproving look across the table.

"I'm sure you're not like that," Violet reassured Lucy. "I just didn't like it."

"There's certain people that are like that," Lucy smiled. "But I'm sure I'll learn to hate it just like I learnt to hate my old school."

"I think every school is the same," Ben replied. "I remember I hated school. Hated all the teachers. Hated all the lessons. Hated all the students. Hated the whole thing. I couldn't wait to finish it and be done with it. College is great. Are you planning on going to college?"

"Hopefully," Lucy nodded. "I haven't thought much of it to be honest."

"Dad wanted me to go to Harvard," Violet laughed. "Good job I died. I saved him loads of money."

As everyone round the table chuckled at Violet, the sound of laughter was soon interrupted for the second time within five minutes. "Lucy, honey," Eve called from the hallway, sounding a little on-edge. "Could you come here please?"

Reluctantly, Lucy excused herself from the table and followed her mother's voice into the hallway to find Eve stood at the front door with two police officers. "Lucy, I'm afraid we have some bad news."

Lucy looked confused until it suddenly hit her. "You've found Jesse, haven't you?" The police officers nodded. Instead of breaking down into a mess of tears on the floor like she felt doing inside, Lucy nodded and took a deep breath as Eve wrapped her arms around her to show her support.

"How did it happen?" Lucy asked, trying ever so hard to keep her emotions hidden.

"We found evidence of injuries sustained by non-human contact so it was more likely to have happened through an attack by an animal," the police officer explained.

"Well, thank-you for letting me know," Lucy smiled.

As the police officers walked out of the porte-cochère, Eve shut the front door behind them before grabbing hold of Lucy and holding her close to her chest as she began to sob. "It's okay, baby," Eve whispered, brushing Lucy's hair with her hand. "Let it all out."

* * *

The rest of the Harmon-Miller household were sat in the lounge, staring blank stares at the television as Lucy laid on her bed in her room, trying to come to terms with what she had just found out. She didn't know how to react. She didn't even know Jesse that well to get all heartbroken over it all. She was devastated at the fact Jesse's parents now had to live the rest of their lives without their son. She was ruined at the idea that Jesse's parents would now have to plan and bury their son. She was destroyed at the thought of Jesse's siblings having to face the rest of their lives knowing they would never be able to see their big brother again. The thought of never being able to know how a relationship with Jesse would have turned out just made Lucy feel numb inside.

Clutching hold of her teddy, she tried to close her eyes and fall asleep with the hope that being asleep would take away the pain she was feeling. It wasn't even like she could tell somebody about it. Nobody would understand.

"Don't cry," a voice sounded from the corner of the room. "Nothing is worthy of your tears."

"It's a fucking stupid messed up world," Lucy sniffled as she sat up to see Tate stood at the end of her bed. "Nothing makes sense in this fucking planet."

Climbing over the bed frame at the bottom of the bed, Tate crawled up the bed and sat beside Lucy. "This world is full of shit."

"Finally somebody understands," Lucy sighed, putting her head back onto her pillow. "I didn't even want to move to LA in the first place but my parents insisted and now I'm stuck here. My friends - they're not exactly people I'm able to talk to about things. I want to have a real friendship with someone, you know, with someone who I can trust all my secrets with and all my weird and annoying habits."

"People just fuck with your feelings," Tate replied, lying down on the bed so he was laid beside Lucy.

"We live in a world where you need to be more than stronger as being strong just isn't enough. You need to be the strongest," Lucy said, staring up at the ceiling with a blank look across her face. "And I don't know how much more I can take before I lose it."

"Does it depress you to know just how alone you really are?" Tate asked, lifting his head from the pillow to look at the broken Lucy that laid beside him.

Lucy nodded - not taking her eyes off the ceiling. "Sometimes when I close my eyes, I pretend that I'm alright, but it's never enough." Lucy paused. "I want to feel loved."

"I can love you," Tate whispered.

Lucy looked at Tate, smiled and then resumed her eyes back to the ceiling. "I wouldn't expect anybody to love me."

Without any warning, Tate leant across to where Lucy was laid and kissed her cheek. As he was about to pull away, Lucy planted her lips on his and kissed him. Pushing him back down onto the bed, she began to kiss him with more passion. Slowly reaching her hand down towards his jeans, she stopped herself and collapsed back onto the bed in tears.

"I don't even know what I'm doing anymore," Lucy confessed. "I'm not even sure who I am."

"I think that the whole point of being with someone is so you can talk to them and let go of everything: and even when you're at your worst, they still like you, they still want to speak to you and care about you."

"Have you ever confused a dream with life?" Lucy asked, wiping a tear that was about to roll down her cheek quickly.

"I don't dream anymore," Tate hastily replied. "There's no point in dreaming as when you wake up the next morning, you remember all the shit you were trying to forget the night before."

"You're the only person who seems to understand me in this house," Lucy paused. "And you don't even live here."

* * *

Two weeks ago, Tate was sat on the bottom step of the basement, staring at the corpse as he realised the mess that he had caused. In reality, he had never meant for Jesse to die - he merely wanted to scare him, but by the time he returned to the basement after letting Infantata loose on him, Jesse was dead and had been for the past half an hour or so. Standing up from the step, Tate cautiously approached Jesse's body and began to circle it, glaring down at the lifeless skeleton that laid on the ground in a pool of dried blood.

Bending down slightly, he examined Jesse's body and smiled. "I told you you'd never hurt her again," he snarled, satisfied by Jesse's achievement in keeping to his promise. "But I can't keep your body here."

Placing his hand beneath Jesse's arms, Tate began to drag the body across the floor, leaving a trail of fresh blood on the floor as he did so. Just as Tate was about to pick the body up and carry it into the crawl space beneath the house, the basement door from the garden opened, flooding the room with light and exposing Tate's secret.

"Once a killer always a killer," the voice sighed as the door closed behind the figure.

"I'm not a killer," Tate snapped.

"Oh, darling," Constance tutted as she blew a puff of smoke in his direction as he let go of Jesse's body, making it collapse back on the floor with a thud - probably shattering a few fragile bones with the concrete impact. "You know fine well you're a killer. Your father was just the same with the whores. He just couldn't help himself. I suppose that's where you get your addiction from - it's in your nature to destroy everything you touch."

"I learned from the best though. Didn't I?"

"Tate," Constance sighed.

"What mother?" Tate spat.

"Don't talk to me in that tone," Constance said, taking another puff from her cigarette. "I'm not here to tell you about all your wrongs. I'm your mother. I love you no matter what."

"Just like you loved dad no matter what?" Tate asked.

"Daddy issues just isn't your style," Constance insisted.

"No, hating my mother isn't either but I do."

"Your son died," Constance announced in an attempt to get some emotion out of her son instead of the usual hatred comments. "I thought you might want to know."

"He wasn't my son," Tate said, walking over to her. "I wanted nothing to do with him. He was your responsibility. You were the one who stole him at birth. You were the one who made up all the bullshit about Violet running off with him. You're the one who we would have learnt to call 'grandmother'- or even worse 'mother'. I suppose it's a good thing he died. I mean, a mother like you means he's just destined for doom."

"That is not true,' Constance argued. "I was a good mother to you and your siblings."

Tate began to laugh. "A good mother? You? I blew out the brains of fifteen students at my high school. You got the guy who you were fucking to kill your son because you couldn't be bothered to look after him. Addie, well, you failed her completely. She never knew what it was like to have real love because you fucked it up. Oh, and God only knows where your other child is. If that's your definition of a 'good mother', then I really applaud you but you fucked us up well and truly."

"I tried my best. I was a single mother."

Tate interrupted Constance before she had chance to give more excuses to him. "You were only a single mother because you pushed my father away so much that he had no choice but to run off."

"Okay, I failed you but I can help you now," Constance pleaded. "Just give me a chance, Tate. One chance for the woman who carried you for nine months and gave birth to you."

"One chance?" Tate questioned. "And why should I do that?"

"I can - I can help you hide the body. Nobody has to know it was you. I can help you get rid of the body."

Tate looked back around at Jesse's body and then back at his mother. After contemplating over his mother's offer for a few moments, he nodded in acceptance.

"I promise I won't let you down," Constance said, putting her hand up to Tate's face and running her finger softly along his jaw line. "My baby boy. My beautiful baby boy."

As Constance went over to grab hold of the body, Tate quickly shook off the tears that were forming in his eyes with the back of his hand.

* * *

Walking through the corridors of the hospital, Jason forced a smile to his colleagues as he passed them on the corridor but he couldn't help but feel so alone in the cold walls of the building. For the past month since starting his job at the hospital, he had been stuck in his office, filling out the paperwork of his fellow colleagues as they couldn't be bothered to complete it themselves. But now he was finding himself being pushed from pillow to post. His initial ideas of being considered as a senior doctor was that he would have the freedom to be the doctor he wanted to be - dealing with patients and helping get as many people as better as he possibly could. 'Senior' gave him the impression that he'd have people work under his orders, not the other way round. As the days dragged on, Jason found himself looking for a new career. Ever since he was a young boy, he had dreamt of healing the sick and comforting the ill, but he was now learning to hate that dream.

"Good afternoon, Doctor Miller," the receptionist smiled.

"Hello, Angela," he replied before swiftly making his way into his office and shutting the door behind him.

The sight of even more paperwork on his desk made him die a little inside. After a few moments of staring at the paperwork mountain that had slowly began to claim residence in his office, Jason turned back around and stormed down the corridor towards the big boss's office. A gold plaque on the door at the far end of the corridor read 'Doctor Kinsky'. Staring at the sign, Jason finally managed to pluck up the courage to knock on the door in an aggressive manner.

"Come in," a booming voice sounded from the other side of the door.

Following instructions, Jason looked across the room to find Doctor Kinsky sat at his empty desk, watching the hospital CCTV that was showing on a flat screen TV screwed to the wall. Seeing how laid back his boss was in regards to the goings on in the hospital made him get even more angrier as he began to rage inside to himself at the ignorance of his boss.

"How may I help you, Jason?"

"It's Doctor Miller," Jason corrected, trying to maintain his professional ethic.

"My apologises - Doctor Miller."

"I'm just in need of being an actual doctor instead of some sort of slave that is stuck in a dusty old office from 7am until 11pm filling out the paperwork for our department that nobody else wants to complete," Jason began, taking a seat in front of Doctor Kinsky. "This isn't what the doctor profession should be about. Being a doctor is about saving lives and helping people. It's about the ups and downs of human anatomy - dealing with the births of babies and the deaths of the elderly. I didn't become a doctor to sit in a chair all day, every day, filling out forms and filing them in rusty cabinets. If I wanted to do that, I would have become a receptionist."

"What do you suggest, Doctor Miller?" Doctor Kinksy asked in a manner that made Jason feel like he was humouring Jason at his own expense.

"I'm telling you that things need to chance or.." Jason paused. "Or.. I'll leave."

"Well, there's plenty of other doctors in this industry that will be happy enough to do your job so if you feel that's best, then you know where the door is."

"I don't want to leave," Jason hesitated. "I just would love to discuss some of my ideas with you as to how we can change the services we offer the community so that it benefits us all."

"Jason - I'm going to call you Jason right now as I'm going to talk to you as a friend rather than on a more managerial position, but we're not in England anymore. Your previous hospital was ran and managed by the National Health Service, if I am right to believe." Jason nodded. "Here at Los Angeles City Hospital, we run through the funds of our patients' insurances. We are initially and foremost a business. We work for profit, not service."

"I have some ideas as to how we can increase the profit as well as improving our services," Jason argued.

"We're doing well enough, Doctor Miller."

"You don't care, do you? You just care about being able to sit here in your fancy office while people downstairs in the real world are suffering with expensive health care and a shit service that this hospital provides."

"I think you're out of order now."

"I quit," Jason announced. "I'm not working for a fat, lazy shit like you who only cares about the money that lines his pockets to feed his donut addiction."

As Jason strode angrily out the office, down the corridor and into his own office to collect his belongings, he felt mixed emotions. Not only was he feeling happy at the fact he had stood up to his boss in what he believed in, he was also feeling a little resent for his actions as he knew now he had to break the news to Eve. He didn't even have to think of how Eve would react - he already knew she would feel aggrieved by Jason's rash actions.

* * *

Walking into the kitchen, Eve was slightly shocked to see Constance sat at the breakfast bar with a cigarette in her hand. Opposite her, Vivien was perched on a stool with Jeffrey in her arms, rocking him back and forth as he slept soundly. Moira was stood by the sink, looking out the window into the garden, making a pot of tea. "Eve," Constance smiled as she tapped the end of her cigarette over a mug that was sat on the breakfast bar, causing the ash cherry to fall in. "I was just saying to Vivien that you'll have to practice your hair skills out before you open the salon."

Eve nodded as she sat down beside Vivien and Moira sat down beside Constance.

"You're more than welcome to spruce my hair up whenever you want," Constance insisted. "I'll never turn down a neighbour in need."

Just as Eve was about to reluctantly take up Constance's offer, the front door opened and in walked Jason, secretly dreading sharing his news with his wife. As he walked into his kitchen, he realised that Eve wasn't alone and smiled to her guests - even though the majority of them now resided in his house.

"Good afternoon, Jason," Constance greeted before she took another puff of her cigarette and blew the smoke away from the table out of the corner of her mouth. "You're home early from work today, aren't you? I usually see your car pulling up onto the driveway when I take my dogs out for a walk at 11pm every night."

"Eve, could I have a quick word?" Jason asked, completely ignoring Constance.

"Sure," Eve smiled.

"In private."

Reluctantly, Eve walked into the hallway as she followed her husband. Passing Lucy as they did so, they both gave her a sympathetic smile but she still remained with an emotionless glare on her pale face that lacked her usual make-up wear. Eve had been so tied under with worrying about the grand opening of her salon and getting everything sorted for that that she hadn't had time to worry about her daughter's inattentive behaviour and attitude that had overcome her recently since she found out about Jesse's death.

Walking into the lounge, Jason shut the doors behind them and turned to his wife, wondering how he should approach this.

"What's up?" Eve asked.

Jason decided to use the good old bandaid approach - the quicker you do it, the quicker its over and done with, or that's what he thought. "I've quit."

"Quit?" Eve questioned in the hope that she had heard her husband wrong. "Quit as in left your job or is there some sort of new definition that I'm unsure of that means you haven't done anything since you're not that stupid?"

Jason stayed quiet for a moment as Eve began to brew. "I couldn't take it anymore, Eve. It isn't a hospital. I wasn't a doctor anymore - I was a door mat."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that Jason, but a job is a job at the end of the day."

"But I wasn't going to spend my days doing something I didn't want to do," Jason replied. "I never expected you to stay in a salon ran by someone else, hence why I agreed to sacrificing London to come over here."

"Don't you dare blame this on me," Eve argued, raising her voice until she realised she had raised it so loud that people outside the room might have been able to hear her. "We moved here on a mutual decision."

"And I wanted to make this decision on my own."

Eve sighed to herself at Jason's unrealistic ideas. "We're married, Jason. A marriage entails that we both discuss things like this. You're supposed to consult me before you make decisions like this, especially since it's not only going to affect you but Lucy and myself too. I've only just managed to get the salon set up and we're one week away from the grand opening. How can you expect us to be able to afford a house like this with just one slight wage coming in? I've piled in all my life savings into the salon. I can't just give it up to get some dead end job because you can't deal with the way things are run between the management. You've only been there for a month. You can't expect it to be running smoothly from day one. You sometimes have to work from the bottom up."

"I'm not taking the job back. I would never expect you to stay at something you're not happy with."

"Do you know what?" Eve asked, looking disgusted. "I can't even talk to you when you're being like this. You're going to go out there and find another job if you're sticking to this stupid, stupid bullshit mind set while I'm going to go back into that kitchen and act like none of this has happened."

Storming back out of the lounge, Eve began to take a couple of deep breaths and walked into the kitchen, trying to remain as calm as possible like she hadn't just had a bombshell dropped on her by her own husband.

"Is everything alright?" Moira asked, looking concerned as Eve gulped away at her cup of tea.

"What? Yeah, it's all fine," Eve lied.

"Are you sure, mum?" Lucy asked.

Eve nodded. "How are you doing?"

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. "Fine, I guess."

Constance sat in silence for a surprise as the others began to console Lucy.

* * *

Loud music blasted through the upstairs of the house from Lucy and Violet's bedroom as Lucy began to get ready for a party that had been arranged by Jesse's friends in memory of him. Rummaging through the closet, Lucy tried to find something that she could wear for tonight but everything she owned ended up in a useless pile in the middle of the floor. No matter how many different angles Lucy held an item of clothing against her body as she stood in front of the full length mirror in the corner of the room, she still didn't like anything she owned. In the end, she compromised with herself that if she found something relatively decent to wear, she'd go to the mall the next weekend and treat herself to a new outfit for the grand opening of Eve's salon. Lucy hadn't received an invitation - that's if you can even call it an invite considering the circumstances - to Jesse's funeral as it was only for close friends and family and Jesse's family had never heard of Lucy before the missing persons unit began their investigations. To her, tonight was going to be her chance to celebrate the little time she spent with Jesse.

As Lucy finally found an old dress hiding at the back of her wardrobe, she turned to Violet, who was lying on Lucy's bed reading a book with her iPod on full blast - probably an attempt to drown out Lucy's music that was still blaring. "What do you think?" Lucy asked, holding the dress up to her body.

Violet put her thumb up before returning back to her book. She clearly couldn't care less about what Lucy was wearing.

Rushing down the stairs in her six inch black stilettos, Lucy ran her fingers through her long brunette hair that she had just spent the last half an hour straightening whilst lost in a daydream daze. Just as she was about to walk out of the door, she saw Tate stood in the corner of the room, watching her.

"Jeeze!" Lucy whispered, dragging Tate into the study and closing the door behind them. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Unusual outfit for trick or treating," Tate commented, looking at Lucy's dress - a cream bandeau strapless top with a dark navy blue ruffle skirt.

"I'm going to a party in memory of someone I used to know," Lucy replied, following it with a half-hearted smile. "I completely forgot it was halloween tonight."

"The one night a year where the dead get to walk with the living."

"You don't actually believe all that bullshit, do you?" Lucy laughed, shuffling the top of her dress slightly so it aligned with her figure properly.

"I don't believe it," Tate answered with a mysterious look on his face as he stood in front of Lucy, pinning her against the wall with his body. "I don't believe it because I know it's true."

"True? Really?" Lucy laughed. "Well, why don't you come to the party with me to keep me safe from the dead?"

Tate looked down at the floor. Slowly, he brought his head up towards Lucy's. "Sometimes it's not the dead you need saving from."

Lucy looked at him in confusion. "Do you know what? Some of the things you say I really don't get but.."

"The mystery's hot though, right?" Tate asked.

Lucy nodded as she bit her lip. "So come on, are you gonna come?"

Without giving Tate a chance to respond to her question, Lucy grabbed his hand and opened the door of the study. Her heels hammered on the wooden floors as she strutted towards the front door with Tate in tow. Quickly, they both rushed down the path towards the main road where Sophie and the rest of the gang were waiting for her in Crystal's convertible.

"Get in," Sophie ordered to Lucy, not realising she had a guest.

"Guys, this is Tate," Lucy smiled, introducing him to her friends.

"Well, hello," Summer giggled, looking Tate up and down and following her checking out examination with a discrete wink.

"Back off, Summer," Lucy warned in a joking manner as they both got in the back of the car next to Crystal.

Back inside the house, there was a figure standing in the bedroom window, looking out at Lucy as she giggled with her friends and Tate.

"He's gonna destroy her," Violet's voice said behind the person that hid in the window of the room that was gently lit by one lamp that was on the bedside table. "He's gonna destroy her just like he destroyed me."

The silhouette turned to face Violet. A ray of light from the lamp hit the side of his face, revealing it to be a battered and bruised Jesse.

* * *

Treading over the drunken bodies that laid on the floor - some passed out and some making out with other drunken teens, Lucy turned around to see Tate looking around in astonishment. Lucy could tell he had never been to a party like this before. Well, neither had Lucy before but she had grown a sudden confidence and new found love in partying - something she had never dreamt of doing back in London. Back in London, Lucy's life was dominated by studying and shopping.

Grinding her hips from side to side to the beat of the music, Lucy lost herself in the music. One of her hands was taken up with a cup of drink that she had no idea what it contained, apart from lots and lots of alcohol, and the other was holding onto Tate's hand as he looked uncertain with what was going on. Running her hands through her hair, she smile at Tate.

"You look uncomfortable," she smiled. "I can get Sophie to take you back if you want?"

"No, it's alright. I've just never seen so many people."

"You might recognise a few faces," Lucy suggested. "Majority of us go to Westfield. Violet was telling me you used to go there too?"

"I don't think so," Tate said, shaking his head.

"Lucy!" Sophie beamed as she ran over to where Lucy was stood dancing by Tate. "I got some."

"Who from?" Lucy asked as Sophie handed her a small plastic bag filled with a white powder.

"Some guy in the bathrooms," Sophie replied. "He seemed to have a bit of a crush on you though."

"Why do you say that?" Lucy asked.

"Well, as soon as I pointed out that you were my friend, he gave it to me - didn't even ask for any money or anything."

"Sweet," Summer laughed.

"Guys, I'm not sure," Crystal replied with a sound of uncertainty in her voice. "It just doesn't seem right. It seems wrong."

"Oh, lighten up," Lucy smiled to Crystal. "It's only a bit of cocaine."

"I love the way you say cocaine," Sophie laughed. "Sounds so British."

"Well, shock horror, Soph. I am British," Lucy grinned.

"There's a free room at the end of the corridor," Summer smiled as she turned back around from talking to one of the boys who seemed like he ran the place. "We'd better hurry up and get in before someone else takes it."

"Drugs?" Tate asked Lucy.

"Yeah," Lucy smiled. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm not going to force you."

"You girls don't look like you know how to do this," Tate paused. "I suppose I'd better show you."

Opening the door into the empty room at the end of the corridor that was full of partying teenagers, Lucy and the rest of her gang filed into the room and shut the door behind them - locking it for better privacy. As Tate grabbed the bag from Lucy's clutch, he sat down on the unmade bed and brushed his hand across the table before emptying the powder down onto the table. Sitting down on his lap, Lucy watched Tate as he used Crystal's credit card to make lines and then rolled up a dollar bill into a small tube - like he had done it before on several occasions. After snorting one line, Tate passed the rolled dollar bill to Lucy, who followed his lead.

Placing her hands behind Tate's head, Lucy began to kiss him as the rest of her friends snorted a line of cocaine. As the girls walked out of the room, Lucy slowly moved her hand down Tate's shirt and began to unbuckle his belt.

"No," Tate groaned, pulling away from Lucy's touch.

"You don't fancy me, do you?"

"No, I do. I do. It's just.."

"I get it," Lucy smiled, getting up off his lap and moving towards the door, pulling down her dress as she did so.

"Lucy," Tate called after her.

As Lucy made her way towards the drinks table, she shook her head in disbelief over what had just happened. How stupid could she have been? Throwing herself at Tate like that and receiving nothing in return. Looking over the drinks that were sprawled out all over the table, Lucy sighed to herself before grabbing an empty cup and pouring some vodka into it.

"Let me do that," a tall, blonde haired boy grinned as he took the cup of vodka from Lucy's hand.

Looking up at him, Lucy hesitated. "I'm fine thank-you," she smiled, taking the cup back off him.

"No, I insist. A pretty girl like you shouldn't be left to pour herself drinks."

"Okay," Lucy smiled reluctantly, giving the cup back over. "Thank-you."

"You're that new girl, right?"

"New girl," Lucy laughed. "Yeah, I suppose I am."

"You're English too which makes you twice as hot as you already are," the stranger winked.

"Thanks," Lucy smiled.

Looking over the boy's shoulder, Lucy saw that Tate was walking out of the room and down the corridor towards where she was stood with her new stranger. She began to giggle staring into the boy's eyes as he handed the drink back to her.

"Actually, could you look after it for me for a few minutes while I just go to the bathroom please?" Lucy asked.

"Sure," the boy smiled.

Kissing him on his cheek in plain view of Tate, who was stood watching them from the corner of the corridor, Lucy began to walk past him, swishing her hips as she walked. The boy turned slightly and watched her as she walked away - following her every move. Climbing up the stairs past the bodies that were dancing to the sound of the music from the upstairs bedrooms, Lucy felt a sudden rush of euphoria. She knew she would be able to get Tate one way or another. There was nothing in the world that she couldn't accomplish. By the time she made a return from the bathroom, the guy Lucy had left her drink with seemed to be even more interested in her.

"So what's a girl as hot as you doing in a place like this?" the boy asked.

"A girl as hot as me?" Lucy laughed. "But I didn't really fancy going trick or treating so I thought I might as well give the party a heads up. Best way to remember Jesse by, right?"

"Did you know him well?"

"Jesse? Not really."

"Same."

* * *

"Tate, have you seen Lucy?" Summer asked anxiously as she rushed down the stairs to find Tate dazed out on the sofa beside a couple of teenagers who were loudly making out with each other.

"No."

"Tate, I think she might be in trouble."

Tate opened his bloodshot eyes at Summer and shot up like a bullet. Darting around the downstairs of the house where the party was being held, he had no luck with locating where Lucy had disappeared to.

Elsewhere, Lucy was being led into the back of the garden in the dark by the guy that she had just met - she didn't even know his name.

"I don't think we should be going down here."

"Shut up," the guy laughed in a joking tone but something made Lucy feel like he wasn't joking about it.

"Hey, I think my friends will be looking for me and.." Lucy slowly began to slur her words more than before. "And.. And.. What's happening with me?"

"You've probably just had a few too many," the boy slyly grinned.

As the stranger was leading Lucy into the pitch black woods, she began to panic. She could hardly walk - the boy was practically dragging her. She could hardly talk - her words came out in a slurred fashion. Her head felt like she was spinning around, like she needed to be sick but she couldn't be sick. She could hardly breathe.

"I need help," Lucy stuttered, gasping for air.

"Look, you're just being dramatic," the guy snarled as he pinned Lucy against a tree trunk. "I know you want this."

"No," Lucy pleaded, trying to push him off her but she was physically and emotionally weak.

"You've been asking for it all night," he spat, unzipping his jeans as he pulled Lucy's dress up.

"Help," Lucy cried with every last bit of energy she had in her body. "Help."

"Nobody's coming," he laughed.

Laying her down on the ground, he slowly began to pull down the top of her dress and began to massage her body with his grubby hands. His warm, disgusting breath lingered on her neck as he began to kiss her shivering skin. She tried to cry out for help but she felt herself getting weaker and weaker. Tears rolled down her face as the animal groaned in ecstasy as he pounded himself at her lifeless body. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as there was not one thing she could do to stop it from happening.

"You're a filthy whore," he panted as he continued to mount her. "But the whores always fuck the best."

"No," Lucy weeped.

"Shit," he moaned. "So fucking good."

"Lucy!" voices in the distance called.

As Lucy laid on the ground, she tried to scream but as she opened her mouth, nothing came out. Pressing his filthy hand over Lucy's mouth, he continued to penetrate her - rape her. Tears streamed down her face as he began to near climax.

"Lucy!"

A light shone through the trees as the voices kept getting closer and closer.

"Get the fuck off her," a familiar voice shouted as Lucy laid on the floor, unable to move, unable to do anything.

"It's alright, I'm finished now," he laughed, getting up off Lucy's body and running further into the woods.

"Tate!" Sophie screamed as he began to chase after Lucy's rapist.

"Lucy," Crystal panicked as she rushed over to Lucy's side and cradled her trembling half-naked body. "It's okay. It's going to be okay. I promise, just stay with me. Okay?"

"Fuck," Summer cried, looking at Lucy as she began to pass out, drifting in and out of consciousness. "We need to call the paramedics."

"Tate!" Sophie screamed again as she heard some commotion further into the woods.

"Lucy. Can you hear us?" Summer asked, shaking Lucy's hand in an attempt to get a response from her but there was nothing.

"Tate!"

Further into the woods, Tate was dragging the rapist's body along the ground. Kicking him in the stomach, Tate began to get even more angry than he already was. "You don't treat girls like that, you fucking asshole." As the rapist tried to get back up onto his feet and run away, Tate grabbed hold of him by his shirt and pushed him into a tree. "You're fucking sick. What makes you think you have the right to do that to her?"

"She was.. she was asking for it," the rapist laughed.

"You're fucking sick," Tate spat, punching him straight in the face - breaking his nose on impact. "I want to kill you right here, right now because you're asking for it."

"Tate!" Sophie continued to scream as she chased after them in the darkness.

"But I'm not going to because Lucy needs me right now," Tate shouted, getting right into his face. "You're lucky for now, but don't think you've got away with this."

Dropping him onto the ground, Tate watched as the rapist fled into the forest, limping from where Tate had repeatedly kicked him in the leg.

"Tate, she needs you."

As they ran back towards where Lucy had blacked out, Tate began to tear up at the sight of Lucy - laid across the floor with her dress pulled up to the top of her leg and pulled down to her waist. "It's okay," Tate whispered as he cradled her limp body in his arms, taking over from Crystal as they went back inside to call 911. "I'm never gonna let anybody hurt you. I promise."

Lucy slowly opened up her eyes, using all her strength, and looked up at Tate through his teary eyes.

"That's it," he smiled. "Stay with me. Stay with me forever."

Just with the look in her eyes, Tate knew how frightened she was. As he kissed her forehead, she slowly closed her eyes and her hand dropped onto the floor beside her as the last bit of energy left her body.

* * *

Vivien and Ben were making the most of being able to leave the house due to the infamous Halloween myth that 'the dead could walk amongst the living for one night a year' so had taken Jeffrey on a little moonlit drive at midnight around Los Angeles and Moira had taken advantage of the night by visiting her mother's grave in the hope that they would meet up, leaving Eve and Jason with the house to themselves - minus Violet.

As Violet sat in her's and Lucy's room, listening to music, the phone downstairs began to ring. With Eve getting up from the sofa, Jason's arm was left suspended in mid-air, waiting for Eve's return.

"Hello," Eve smiled to her husband as she answered the phone.

"Eve, it's Summer," the voice on the other end of the phone line replied. "Lucy's friend."

"Hello, Summer," Eve smiled. "I'm afraid Lucy is out at the moment but I can take a message or tell her to give you a call back when she gets in later on if that's alright?"

"I'm not ringing for Lucy. I'm ringing to speak to you actually," Summer said in a panicked tone. "I'm at the hospital."

"Is everything okay?" Eve asked as she began to worry.

"Lucy's been.." Summer paused. She didn't have the slightest idea how to tell Lucy's mother. I mean, which is the easiest way to tell somebody's mother that their daughter - their only daughter - had been raped and was now unconscious due to a drugs overdose.

"Lucy? What's happened?" Eve rushed.

By this point, Jason had stood up from his place on the sofa and joined his wife by the phone.

"Lucy's been raped. We don't know how it happened but she's unconscious in hospital."

Eve dropped the phone as she realised what Summer had just said. Sitting down on the sofa, Eve began to weep.

"Hello?" Jason asked as he picked up the phone that was hanging off the side of the table by the cable and placed it to his ear.

"Is this Lucy's dad?" Summer asked.

"Yes. Summer?"

"Mr. Miller, you need to come to the hospital. Lucy's been raped and taken an overdose."

* * *

Surrounded by bleeping machines, Lucy laid motionless on the hospital bed as Tate held onto her hand. His eyes were bloodshot and both of his hands were wrapped around Lucy's. Her finger nails had turned blue to match her lips. No matter what Tate said to her, she wouldn't wake up. Refusing to take his eyes off of her, not even to blink, Tate continued to watch over her - even when a doctor came in to assess her.

"Are you her boyfriend?" the doctor asked Tate as he flicked through her records and checked her heart rate monitor.

"Yeah," Tate nodded. "Is she going to be okay?"

"We're going to need to pump her stomach," the doctor explained. "She's currently unconscious and we have no idea what type of substances she's taken."

"Cocaine," Tate blurted out. "She - we took cocaine but it wasn't that much. But she was drinking a lot before that and this guy - that guy gave her something in her drink."

After giving Tate a dirty look, the doctor rushed out of the room where Lucy was being kept and darted down the corridor to be met by two police officers, followed by a worried Eve and Jason. "Doctor," Eve begged. "She's my daughter. I need to know she's going to be okay."

"If you'll just like to wait in the family waiting room, I'll come update you shortly. I'm dealing with her now."

* * *

"You really scared me, Lucy," Tate said as he held onto Lucy's hand as she slowly began to come around - dazed and confused. "I thought I'd lost you."

"He raped me," Lucy sobbed.

"Hey," Tate hushed, kissing her forehead. "You don't need to say anything. I know. The police are dealing with it. We're gonna find him, okay? He's going to pay."

"He.."

"He's going to pay," Tate repeated, looking Lucy straight into her eyes. "I promise." As tears rolled down her cheek, Tate wiped them away with his thumb. "I need to go, but I'll come see you later when you're home."

"Tate," Lucy pleaded, holding onto his hand as he slowly began to walk out of the room. "Please stay with me."

"I can't," he sighed. "But you're safe now. I promise."

* * *

Holding onto Lucy as they made their way down the path and towards the front door of the house, Eve and Jason looked at each other with the same helpless looks across their faces. They both knew their daughter was slowly going out of control but there was nothing they could do apart from be there for her when it all came crashing back down. As soon as they got indoors, they were met by a worried Vivien and Ben.

"We heard what happened," Ben said. "If there is anything we can do to help, just say."

"It's alright," Eve smiled. "We're going to get her in a bath and put her to bed. She needs to rest."

"Why are you talking like I'm not here?" Lucy asked. "I got raped. That doesn't mean that I can't hear you. I'm not fucking deaf."

As Lucy shook off her mother's hand, she began to climb the stairs up to her bedroom. Walking in to find it empty, she shut the door behind her and collapsed onto the floor in tears. She felt dirty. She felt unwashed. She felt disgusting. She felt so ashamed. She laid down on the floor, curling into a ball in front of the door and sobbed her heart out. She was hurting - mentally, physically and emotionally. Truth be told, the only thing that Lucy wanted to do was to fall asleep and to never wake up again - but doing that right here would mean she would wake up and that was something she didn't want to do. Ever.

* * *

Gently tipping the water over Lucy's hair, Eve looked at her daughter with sympathy. There was nothing she could do to take away the pain that Lucy was feeling, regardless of how much she wanted to take it all away. She regretted letting Lucy out last night. She regretted moving her whole family across the world to spend what turned out to be a few days with her mother. She regretted everything that had happened in the last month and a half since they moved to Los Angeles. As she tipped another cup of water over her daughter's hair, Lucy began to cry in the bath.

"Let it all out, angel," Eve soothed as Lucy followed her instructions and began to sob.

In the doorway but out of sight from Eve, Tate was stood watching as Eve continued to wash her weeping daughter.

"You didn't want her to get hurt, yet she's even more hurt now than she would have been if you didn't fuck it all up."

"You can't tell her, Vi," Tate pleaded as he looked over his shoulder to see Violet stood behind him.

"I'm not getting involved. This is your mess. Your doings. Your actions. You can sort it out."


	6. Bump and Grind

**Chapter Six: Bump and Grind**

1940s Los Angeles was the era where the city was full with young girls wanting to hit the silver screen and budding new actors and actresses working ever so hard to make their Hollywood dreams into Hollywood realities. One girl in particular was twenty-two year old, Elizabeth Short. Elizabeth had always dreamed of becoming famous but becoming famous meant she had to work all hours and received little pay for the work she did do. Doctor David Curan was the current owner of 939 Berra Drive and he ran a dentist from his house, merely for the fact he had a huge belief in his patients feeling more comfortable in homely settings.

"Doctor Curan, I presume," Elizabeth smiled as the front door opened to reveal a tidy looking dentist. Opening the door fully, Doctor Curan showed her the direction towards his surgery. "You work out of your home. I think that's wonderful."

"Well I cater mostly to the families in the neighbourhood," Doctor Curan replied. "It makes it convenient for them. And for me."

"And for your wife."

"I'm not married," Doctor Curan corrected. "Not currently. Where did you say you had heard of me?"

"My girlfriend - Abbie Pierce," Elizabeth smiled. "You filled her cavity. She said you were very good."

"Abbie, yes," Doctor Curan nodded as they began to walk the short distance towards his surgery. "Nice gal."

Sat in Doctor Curan's surgery, Elizabeth sat down on the treatment chair while Doctor Curan began to sort out his equipment. "Abbie also said you sometimes made special arrangements with girls who were a little.. short."

"You don't have any money?" Doctor Curan asked.

"Not very much," Elizabeth replied - fluttering her eyelashes slightly as she looked up at the dentist. "I'm still trying to establish myself. I'm an actress. I'm gonna make it big. Everyone says so. You can expect to see me on the silver screen one day." Doctor Curan reached over Elizabeth towards the anaesthetic machine. "Maybe we can come to some kind of mutually beneficial arrangement, Doctor Curan."

Looking down into the blue eyes of his patient, Doctor Curan paused for a moment - presumably contemplating Elizabeth's offer. "Well, I don't know," he replied, stepping back slightly as Elizabeth continued to gaze at him through her seductive eyes.

"It hurts, doctor," she said, putting her hand to the side of her mouth. "I really need you to fill it."

"I'm just going to put this on you," Doctor Curan sighed as he took hold of the anaesthetic mask that was hung up beside her. Elizabeth, looking satisfied that she had managed to convince the dentist, tilted her head back slightly as Doctor Curan began to fit the mak around her head. "I don't want to crush your carnation."

"It's not a carnation, silly," Elizabeth smiled as she began to unclip the white flower from the side of her hair. "It's a Dahlia."

Placing the flower that had recently received its acknowledgment for being a Dahlia onto the side of the counter, Doctor Curan carefully put the mask over Elizabeth's mouth and nose. "Just breathe," he instructed.

Holding the mask over her face, Elizabeth followed his instructions and breathed normally, inhaling the anaesthetic in. A few moments after the anaesthetic began to work and knocked Elizabeth out, Doctor Curan began to fondle with her clothes and pushed his hand up her black 1940's tailored suit and into her undergarments. After thrusting himself into her, Doctor Curan quickly zipped up the fastening to his trousers and looked down at the young girl - who still had the anaesthetic mask attached around her mouth. Her long hair was as black as midnight and styled into perfect little curls. Wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hands, Doctor Curan began to redress Elizabeth so she would be none the wiser. Reaching up to her face, he pulled the anaesthetic mask away from her mouth and placed it back on its hook. Stroking both of her cheeks with one of his hands, he examined her very pale complexion. "God, you're beautiful."

As he began to start the drill, he placed his hand beneath Elizabeth's cheek. Realising she was still unconscious, he called her name - "Beth" - but there was still no response from her. Shaking her slightly, he began to panic.

"Beth!"

Letting go of the drill, he realised what had happened to her. She was out cold and had been for some time. With a sudden rush of madness, Doctor Curan decided to take the body of Elizabeth Short and hide her downstairs in the basement in the hope that nobody would find her until he knew how he could dispose of the body. After dragging the lifeless girl down the stairs, he stood against the wall, looking down in disbelief at what had happened. He didn't mean for this to happen. He was a good man. Footsteps began to sound as if they were walking towards them. Looking up, Doctor Curan moved back in a panic as he realised a suited man was standing in front of him and Elizabeth's body.

"Who are you?" Doctor Curan asked.

"My name is Charles Montgomery," the stranger smiled, holding out his firm hand for the dentist to shake. "I am quite a renowned surgeon. I'm here to help you."

Doctor Curan looked down at Elizabeth's perfect face and then back to Charles Montgomery.

Sitting in his laboratory in the basement, Charles took a deep breath from his ether mask and picked up his surgical saw. Carefully, he began to carve away at Elizabeth's body. Unknown to Doctor Curan, Charles wasn't the the renowned surgeon he implied he was - instead he was an insane ghost who had a sick obsession with mutilation and experimentation with dead bodies. As Charles continued to work, he continued to inhale the ether he so badly yearned for.

"What have you done?" Doctor Curan asked in horror as he returned into the basement to see Charles' finished work.

"I've bisected her body, removed the intestines and drained her blood," Charles proudly explained.

"Why?" Doctor Curan asked.

"A writer writes, a surgeon cuts. I think you will find these pieces more portable."

Charles continued to finish his masterpiece from Elizabeth's body. "What are you doing now?"

"She seems so sad," Charles stated as he looked down at Elizabeth's mutilated corpse. Inserting his surgical tool into the corner of her mouth, he pulled it towards him, creating a huge cut that sliced across Elizabeth's face - appearing to be a smile. "I've decided to give her a smile that will last forever."

* * *

Trying to sit up in bed, Lucy found her whole body aching. A week had passed since the night she got raped and she was still in agony whenever she moved. Even if it was just the slightest movement, she found herself screaming in agony. The police had no luck tracking down the rapist - nobody at the party could remember Lucy being with anybody apart from Tate. The only bit of pain relief that Lucy had was with the bottle of vodka that she had stashed under her bed, out of sight from her parents. Jason was too caught up in trying to find a new job and Eve was too caught up in trying to make sure that the salon opening was perfect to realise how much pain their daughter still was in. Since the attack, Violet and her parents had decided to give the Miller family some space and had disappeared for a few days - although they couldn't have gone far since they couldn't ever leave the house. Eve had placed the family television into Lucy's bedroom to keep Lucy occupied whilst her parents were out running their personal errands. As the television droned on and on about absolute nonsense, Lucy found herself slipping into a huge daze. Tate hadn't even made an appearance like he promised he would at the hospital. Maybe he was scared of her parents thinking it was him? Maybe he didn't know what to say to Lucy? Lucy didn't know. All Lucy knew was she had never felt so alone in her whole life.

"Excuse me, do you know where Ben Harmon is?" a voice asked.

Looking up from where Lucy was laid, she was confused to see a woman stood in her bedroom doorway. The woman had a very pale complexion that complimented her long, curly, dark hair that looked as if it was almost black. Lucy wasn't sure what to think of the woman. Her tailored suit, black pump high heels, stockings and white gloves certainly wasn't the usual Los Angeles attire these days. "He's away on business at the moment," Lucy lied, unsure of what she was expected to say - she couldn't exactly tell this stranger the truth.

Instead of receiving the reply that Lucy expected - the woman disappearing, the woman walked into Lucy's bedroom and stood at the foot of the bed. Placing her hand on the metal rail, the woman looked at Lucy with a sympathetic look across her pale face. "Are you all alone?"

Lucy reluctantly nodded.

"Me too," the girl smiled. Even though she smiled, Lucy knew straight away it wasn't a sincere smile that was filled with happiness and meaning. Lucy knew this girl was as sad as her, if not more so.

"I'm sorry," Lucy paused. "But who are you?"

"Elizabeth," the girl replied. "Elizabeth Short."

"Right," Lucy nodded. "And you're here to see Ben?"

"Doctor Ben Harmon, yes."

"I'll be sure to tell him when he's back that you were here looking for him then," Lucy smiled.

"You poor girl," Elizabeth sighed as she looked at Lucy with sympathy. "I saw you just moments ago drinking from that bottle." Elizabeth nodded towards the half empty bottle of vodka that was hidden on Lucy's bedside table behind the lamp. "I don't think that's a very good idea in your condition, do you?"

Lucy looked at the bottle and then back at the woman. "I don't want to come across as rude but would you mind leaving the house now?" Lucy began to get out of bed, struggling as her sides pained through the bruising.

Elizabeth walked out of Lucy's bedroom with Lucy hobbling along behind. By the time Lucy got down the stairs and into the hallway, Elizabeth had already disappeared out of the front door - leaving it wide open in the process. Pressing her hand on the back of the door, Lucy sighed to herself as she pushed it closed. She knew she shouldn't have been drinking. She knew she should have been resting. But given the circumstances, Lucy couldn't cope. One week ago, Lucy got raped at a party that was supposed to be held in memory of Jesse Porter - Lucy's first and former lover - who died in a tragic animal attack just over a month ago.

* * *

As Lucy laid in the hospital bed, still in the clothes from the night before, she stared at the wall through emotionless eyes. Her parents had been in to see her briefly but now she was all alone. Last night she was raped. Last night she had an accidental overdose on God only knows what. No matter what Lucy thought of, all she could imagine was the panting of the animal that was mounting her - all she could imagine was the touch of his hands on her skin. With every thought, Lucy felt more and more ill.

"Lucy," the nurse smiled as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her as she carried a paper file that was presumably about Lucy's medical history and her medical records. "I'm Nurse Williams."

"Hi," Lucy croaked.

"How are you feeling?"

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. She had no idea how she felt emotionally. Physically, however, was a different matter - she felt numb, she felt dirty, her whole body was in agony.. the list went on.

"We've got the test results back and everything looks fine," the nurse smiled. "You're free to go home but there is one thing."

The nurse paused as she gave Lucy a sympathetic look. "What?"

"Did you know you are pregnant?"

* * *

And yes, six days ago, Lucy got given the news at the hospital that she was five weeks pregnant. And to make matters even more worse than they already were, the father of her unborn baby was dead.

* * *

Sat in the local coffee shop, Sophie peered over her glossy magazine that she held in her hands to see the guy who she had her eye on all week walk into through the main door, holding it open for a young woman as she walked towards him with a large latte in either hand and then he turned to check her out as she turned the corner and walked towards her boyfriend, who was perched on the bench on the other side of the road. Flicking over the page, Sophie looked across the coffee shop to see the guy ordering a coffee. Sophie knew this was her chance. She knew what she had to do. Placing the magazine into her bag, Lucy grabbed her empty coffee cup - the cup that had been waiting on the table, gathering dust, for the past hour as she waited for this perfect opportunity. Sophie had been following the guy ever since she tracked him down on Tuesday night. She knew every part of his daily routine. At 7am every morning, he would leave his parents' house - not far from Leimert Park - and would go for an hour jog at the park plaza. Upon his return at 8.30am, he would then get a quick shower and change before heading to the local coffee shop for 9am, where he would spend half an hour checking out the fresh LA talent before heading to the community college for classes at 10am. With today being Saturday, Sophie was unsure of his weekend routine so on the off chance of his routine adjusting any, she gave herself plenty of time to find him and work her magic.

Walking over to the coffee counter, Sophie tensed her back muscles so she would appear taller than she already was. She had even worn short denim shorts and five inch stilettos in the hope that it would make the guy's attention stick to her.

"What can I get you?" the barista asked, taking Sophie's coffee mug from her hand and placing it in the dishwasher before grabbing a new cup from the shelf.

"Um," Sophie paused as she glanced up at the coffee menu for a few moments. "A tall skinny latte with a shot of caramel and cinnamon sprinkles please."

"That'll be three dollars thirty."

"I'll get this," the guy smiled, swooping a twenty dollar bill into the barista's hand before Sophie even had the chance to get her purse from her bag.

"Thanks," Sophie smiled, getting eye contact with the guy as the barista handed his change back to him.

"No problem."

As the barista began to make Sophie's order, she shuffled across the black and white checkered tiles so she could be closer to where the guy was stood. "So, what's your favourite?" Sophie asked, admiring all the drinks that were available on the black menu boards that were displayed above the counter - authentically written in chalk.

"Tall, skinny brunette," the guy replied, slyly smiling at Sophie.

"Really?" Sophie giggled. "Well, I like tall, muscular blondes."

As soon as the barista handed Sophie her coffee, the guy downed his drink. "I'd better be off," he smiled to Sophie. "Lovely meeting you."

"No," Sophie shouted, pausing as she realised how loud she had actually exclaimed it.

"What?"

"Do you fancy coming back to mine?" Sophie asked, returning to a quieter level. "I mean, I know we've just met but by God, you're so hot and well, I have an empty house.. if you know what I mean."

The guy hesitated for a few moments before he nodded.

Sophie, satisfied that her half of the job had been sone, sat down on the sofa and began to drink her coffee quickly, nearly scolding her mouth in the process, as the guy sat opposite her, watching her very closely.

* * *

Wandering into the kitchen, Vivien noticed that the trash was beginning to pile up. As she lifted it up and went to carry it outside to the trash can, something fell out from the top of the bag. Bending down, she realised what it was. After she managed to put the trash outside, Vivien held onto what had fallen out onto the floor in her hands. Looking at it carefully, she didn't know what to think. Placing her left foot on the first step, Vivien contemplated over her discovery for a few more moments before she finally decided to go upstairs.

"Lucy," she called.

"Yeah," Lucy croaked back as she sat up in bed.

"Do you mind if I just have a quick talk to you?"

Lucy shook her head as Vivien came into the room and sat down on the end of her bed. "I thought I'd come down and do some jobs for your mom as she must be rushed off her feet with the grand opening of the salon and everything," Vivien began. "And I found this in the trash."

She handed the pregnancy test to Lucy. As soon as Lucy caught sight of what it was, her heart sunk. "I'm sorry. I couldn't tell anyone so I just hid it in the rubbish. I didn't know what to do."

"Lucy," Vivien sighed as she gently hugged her. "You could have come to me and told me. I'm not your mother. I care about you. I suppose in a way you've become an adopted daughter of mine, but I'm still not your mother at the end of the day. And even still, your mom is a lovely woman - she just wants what is right by you."

"It's a mess," Lucy sobbed. "It's all a mess."

"Do you know who the father is?" Vivien asked in a calming tone.

"Jesse."

"The boy who.."

"Died? Yeah."

Vivien sat on the bed with Lucy, cradling her head as she rocked her back and forth. "Oh, honey."

* * *

Hustling around the salon, Eve struggled to put the finishing touches to her pride and joy before it was opening its doors to the public for the first time. Arranging her staff into a regimental line beside the door, she looked at them one by one, making sure their uniform was spotless and their appearance was flawless. "Yvonne," she paused to one girl. "I need you to straighten your hair. The kinks have got to go."

After handing a pair of straightening irons to her employer, she continued to walk down the line of staff, checking them for any imperfections. Once she was satisfied by everything, Eve glanced up at the clock. It was already nearing 11am - Lucy and Jason had both promised to there by 10.30am.

* * *

"So, Mr. Miller," the grubby looking man smiled across the counter to Jason. "You are a qualified doctor?"

It was like the shop counter separated the two different worlds. As Jason was wearing his best black suit along with a red tie and crystal white shirt - all of which were pristine and pressed, the man on the other side of the counter was wearing grease-ridden overalls of a dirty blue shade and had his unwashed hair slicked to the side. Jason nodded as he looked around the tiny shop that was attached to a run down gas station on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

"Well, that will come in handy here," the man joked, letting out a snort as he laughed. Noticing how awkward Jason was getting the longer he looked around the shop, the man changed the subject. "When can you start?"

"Tomorrow?" Jason replied, still unconvinced that he should take up this job even though he had no choice since it was the only job available for immediate start within a fifty mile radius that Jason was qualified to do - or in this case, overqualified.

"Be here for 9am."

Jason reluctantly shook the man's hand before discreetly wiping his hand down his suit jacket. "Thank-you."

"I look forward to working with you, Jason," his new boss said, smiling his few remaining yellow teeth at a weary Jason.

Walking out of the shop, Jason sighed to himself. His plan was to hold this poxy job down for a few weeks, just until a job opening at another hospital opened up - then he'd tell Eve the truth. He hated lying to his wife, but it was for her own good. She was too busy worrying about the salon for Jason to drop this burden on her. In his eyes, what she didn't know couldn't hurt her. Dropping his briefcase into the back of the car, Jason got into the driver's seat and let out yet another sigh to himself. Placing his hand on the keys, he slowly began to start the ignition as he looked back to his new workplace through the rear view mirror. He didn't understand how just a couple of months ago Jason was working in a fantastic hospital doing a job he loved - he used to love getting out of bed in the morning, regardless of how dark, cold and miserable it was outside, to go to work - now, he dreaded the idea of work. 'Work' was his idea of a nightmare now - his living nightmare.

* * *

Grabbing the bottle of vodka from under her bed, Lucy downed the last bit before taking a couple of paracetamols that Eve had left her on the dresser. Slowly, Lucy carefully got up from the bed and made her way across the bedroom. With one hand, Lucy held onto the banister as she gradually walked down the stairs and with her other hand, she clutched onto her ribs that had been bruised as a result of the attack. By the time she made it down the stairs, Crystal pulled up outside with Summer in the back. Getting out of the car, Summer ran up to the front door and bashing on it until Lucy opened it.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Summer asked, helping Lucy walk out of the porte-cochère of the house, looking at her with apprehension. "I haven't stopped worrying about you all week."

"I'm fine," Lucy lied, supporting her lie with a false smile - something that she had learnt to perfect over the last couple of months. "Where's Sophie?"

"Sophie texted me earlier to say she might be running a bit late," Crystal replied as she overheard Lucy. "She'll be there. Don't worry."

Lucy nodded as Summer helped her into the front passenger seat of Crystal's car. As soon as they began to drive off down the street in the direction of Eve's salon, Lucy knew both her friends were looking at her with worry. "Guys, I know you mean no harm but can you stop staring at me? I'm fine, really. Just stop staring at me."

* * *

Leading the guy down the path towards the Miller's house, Sophie had a huge grin on her face as she held onto his hand. He was hanging off her every word as she began to tell some bullshit story about the history of her made-up life and how she came to live in the notorious that was known to the population of Los Angeles as 'Murder House'. "My mom died in a car accident when I was a baby so it's just me and my dad now," Sophie smiled. "We only moved into the house a few weeks ago but I like it."

"Is it true about the murders here?" he asked.

Sophie shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I don't care to be honest. Ghosts aren't real."

"True," he laughed.

As Sophie fumbled around her bag for the set of keys that she took from the kitchen counter from the last visit she had to see Lucy when she was recovering during the week, the guy began to look around the porte-cochère, admiring the architecture of the house. Stepping into the house, Sophie led the boy into the middle of the hallway before she went back to close the front door. He turned to look her with a sly grin on his face. "We'd better get down to business before your dad gets back home then."

"He has a good point," a voice replied from behind where the guy was stood.

Turning to see who had replied to his suggestion, the guy realised who he was faced with the second his eyes caught contact with the source of the voice.

"Shit!"

As he began to back away from Tate, Sophie grabbed the door handle before he could escape and locked it, taking out the key and putting it down her bra. "You raped my best friend," Sophie snarled as she pushed the guy back into the hallway and against the wall with such a thud that a framed photo of a younger Lucy and a slightly older boy stood outside Buckingham Palace fell off the wall where it was hung and smashed on the floor beneath. "What the fuck made you think you could get away with something like that? You're disgusting. You're fucked up. You're not even worth the air you breathe."

"I'm sorry. I really am," he pleaded.

"Are you though? Are you really? Because I don't believe you," Sophie replied, pinning him against the wall in such a way that he couldn't move. "Do you realise what you've actually done to Lucy? She's scared of every noise, of every sound - she's scared of everything. And that's all because of you. Yet you don't care. You will never care because you're evil. You won't ever realise what it's like to be scared of everything. But we're gonna change that."

"I'm really sorry," he began to cry. "I didn't.."

"You didn't mean it?" Tate spat. "How could you not mean it? Oh, didn't you mean to drug her until she was barely conscious then lead her into the forest, undress her and then rape her? Didn't you hear her pleas or her crying? Or was it because you drugged her so much that she could hardly speak, let alone move?"

"I didn't know what I.."

"Shut the fuck up," Tate snapped, kicking him in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground in a position like he was begging. "You're so full of shit."

"Please," he sobbed as Tate continued to kick him in the stomach. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Tate asked as he stopped kicking him and bent down beside him.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry isn't going to cut it, is it?" Tate asked Sophie as he stood back up.

"Nope," Sophie smiled back at him. "We're gonna make you pay for what you did to Lucy."

"I'm.."

"Sorry?" Tate asked. "You've said."

Just as Tate was about to stand up, the guy pulled himself off the ground and launched himself at an unprepared Tate. As the males began to fight each other, Sophie stood back, watching them, unsure of what she should do. She knew that if she got involved she would just be hurt. Lifting his clenched fist behind his head, the guy launched it towards Tate, uppercutting his nose. With blood pouring from his nose, Tate brought his knee up, aiming it right in his stomach. Just as the guy was about to hit back, Tate pushed him back, tripping him over his own leg, causing him to fall straight into the table that was beside the door, smashing a vase as he tried to get back up.

"Is that all you've got?" Tate laughed.

The guy picked himself up off the ground and ran into the lounge, trying to find a way out but it was no use - Tate just ran after him, always being one step behind him as he searched for another exit to the house. Throwing a plant pot back at Tate in an attempt to lose him, the guy darted up the stairs. Running into the first door he saw - which just so happened to be Lucy's room, he slammed the door behind him and grabbed the set of drawers, pushing them as hard as he could against the door as if to barricade himself in. Repeatedly throwing himself at the door, Tate finally managed to bang the door to the side, smashing the back of the drawers as he did so. Cornering the guy into the corner of the room, Tate took one final laugh before he threw him into the wall with such force that he came tumbling back down onto the floor, knocking him out.

Stood in the hallway, Sophie looked up at the ceiling - the light fixtures were rattling as the two boys continued to fight upstairs. Just as she was about to head up the stairs to try to break them up, there was a knock on the front door, followed by a few more knocks - each knock getting more and more impatient. Looking through the spyhole, Sophie began to panic as she realised a concerned looking Jason was stood outside the door. Taking a deep breath, she noticed the banging from upstairs had stopped. After quickly contemplating what to do, Sophie unlocked the door.

"Sophie, what's going on?" Jason asked, looking around in confusion as he realised the state that the house was in due to the fight that had just happened.

"You weren't supposed to be back yet," Sophie panicked.

"Sophie.."

"I managed to track down the guy who did that stuff to Lucy," Sophie blurted out.

"He hasn't hurt you, has he?"

"No, but.." Sophie paused as she looked up at the ceiling again. "He's upstairs. Lucy's boy.." she paused again. "Lucy's friend is up there. I think one of them is hurt. Really hurt."

Jason took a quick glance at Sophie before he darted up the stairs. Running into Lucy's bedroom, he realised the state it was in - just like downstairs with overturned furniture and smashed objects all over the place. Sophie ran upstairs and into the bedroom to find Jason and Tate stood next to each other as they looked down at the animal that raped Lucy who was knocked out on the floor. Tate sat down beside his unconscious opponent with his legs crossed.

"Are you sure this is him?" Jason asked.

"It's him," Sophie nodded, walking over to join him and Tate. "It's him without a doubt. He still had the bruise on his arm from where Tate kicked him the other night."

Jason nodded. "I've got this."

"What are you gonna do to him?" Sophie asked, looking up at Jason, who had so much anger in his eyes as he watched his daughter's rapist very closely.

"He'll get what he deserves," Jason replied. "He'll get what he really deserves."

Grabbing a blanket from Lucy's closet, he wrapped it around the guy's body and carried it down the stairs. Placing his body in the middle of the hallway, Jason looked at him for a few moments before disappearing into the lounge, returning after a few moments with the wheelchair that once belonged to Lizzy. With the guy who was still anonymous to them all slumped in the wheelchair, Jason wheeled it out to his car and dumped the body in the trunk.

* * *

Slamming the breaks on at a red light, Jason looked out the front view window as if he had been possessed by something. His eyes had a sudden gleam of hatred on them - something that was completely absurd to his usual character. The radio was blaring from the stereo speakers, hiding the noise that was coming from the trunk. Inside the trunk space, the guy had woken up in a daze and was banging on the sides of the car. "Help!" he screamed, but it was completely useless as the car suddenly screeched along the streets out of Los Angeles.

Keeping one eye on the road and one hand on the steering wheel, Jason reached over into the back of the car with his free hand and unclipped his briefcase, grabbing his phone. Carefully, he began to type up a text message to Eve - "Sorry, I might be a bit later than I originally thought. Got job back and they've said I can finish paperwork as an apology. Hope opening went well. Love you xx" Clicking send, Jason threw his phone back into the back of the car and returned all his attention back onto the road - apart from the bit of his brain that was thinking of how he could get revenge on the animal in the back of his car.

* * *

As Sophie began to pick up all the pieces of shattered glass that laid around the house, Tate rearranged Lucy's bedroom so it didn't look like anything had happened in the first place. After upstairs was free from any evidence of the fight, Tate walked down the stairs and noticed there was something laying on the floor in front of the staircase. Bending over to pick up the photo that had fallen off the wall, he smiled down at the bit of paper in his hand as he realised it was Lucy as a child. Gently, he stroked the inked version of Lucy's face with his finger.

"That's everything down here done," Sophie smiled as she brushed the bit of soil that was on her shorts from the plant pot that had been chucked in the lounge.

Walking closer to Tate, Sophie realised that he was looking down at the photo of Lucy with a smile across his face. Coughing to clear his throat, Tate put the photo in his back pocket and looked at Sophie. "I'd better get going."

"One second," Sophie paused as she took hold of his hand and led him into the kitchen. "I'll clean your nose up before you go."

Sitting Tate down on the stool at the breakfast bar, Sophie grabbed a few tissues from the box on the counter and ran them under the cold tap for a few moments. Gently, she tilted Tate's head back slightly and began to dab the tissues on his bloody nose. Looking into Tate's eyes, Sophie smiled before her eyes slowly dropped to his lips. Beginning to bite her lip, Sophie continued to stare at Tate's lips.

"You're so hot," Sophie whispered as she gradually began to lean towards Tate, aiming her lips to his.

Tate tried to pull away but Sophie's charm just attracted him even more. As their lips interlocked with one another, Tate rose from the stool and turned Sophie around so she was against the breakfast bar. Pushing her back, Tate continued to kiss her as he gave into temptation and let the urge get the better of him. Letting out soft moans, Sophie ran her hands through Tate's hair as he carried on kissing her skin, going further and further down her body.

* * *

Sitting in the stylist chair at Eve's salon, Lucy let out a small smile at her mother in the mirror as she chopped away at her daughter's hair like the professional she was. Running a comb down her hair, Eve looked at her daughter through the reflection of the mirror and smiled back at her. "So, madam, are you going anywhere nice on holiday this year?"

"Cut the bullshit, mum."

"Hey," Eve said, gently hitting Lucy's shoulder as she disapproved of her swearing - especially in front of her new team of stylists and their customers as the salon was bursting full already within an hour of opening its doors for the first time. "What have I told you about cursing to me, or anyone for that matter?"

"Sorry," Lucy groaned as she closed her eyes, trying to relax as Eve put down the scissors and began to massage through her hair.

A few moments after closing her eyes, Lucy jumped slightly in her seat as she saw the face of her attacker on her shut eyelids. Eve saw her daughter getting scared by the visions in her mind from flashbacks of the other night but she decided to ignore it.

"Still no sign of your dad yet," Eve sighed as she continued to comb through Lucy's hair, snipping the scissors at the end.

"He's probably still in the interview," Lucy said.

"How.."

"Mum, it was hardly a secret. I heard you and him arguing about it last week before.. before the party," Lucy paused. "Plus dad has hardly left the house this week and if he has, he's been in a suit - he never went to work in a suit before."

"We didn't want to worry you. You've had enough to deal with, you know, well.."

Lucy nodded. "I know, mum. I know. But I'm fine now. You could have told me this stuff. I hate feeling isolated from the world."

"Anyway," Eve paused as she quickly lined up two strands of hair, making sure they were the same length. "Would you like your hair curled or straight?"

"Whatever," Lucy smiled, watching her mother doing her stuff in the mirror.

* * *

A soft breeze ran through the desert and the surrounding valley, causing a sandstorm to travel through the winds, covering everything in its path with a thick blanket of roasting sand. As Jason turned off the car's engine, he realised the boy in the back of his car was now conscious and realising what his fate was going to be. Crying pleas, the boy continued to bang on the side of the car. Jason took a deep breath and clambered out of the car, making his way around to the trunk door. Grabbing hold of the guy by his collar, Jason led him a slight distance away from his car and threw him onto the sandy ground. Bleeding and unable to move, the boy continued to cry his excuses at Jason in an attempt to save his life. Reaching into the back of the car, Jason grabbed a spade that he had got from the garden shed just before he drove off from the house two hours ago. As soon as he saw Jason carrying a metal shovel, the boy used all the energy he had left in his broken body to try and crawl away to safety.

"Now you know how it feels to fear for your life with no way of getting away from your attacker, don't you?" Jason spat. "Now you understand how Lucy felt that night you raped her."

"I'm sorry. I am so so sorry. Just please, let me go. I won't go near your daughter ever again."

"You're right. You'll never go near my daughter again," Jason paused, raging with anger. "You'll never go near another girl again. You'll never be able to experience true love and you will never ever.. EVER be able to know what it's like to feel safe again because I'm gonna take it away from you like you took it away from my daughter."

Raising the shovel above his head, Jason looked down through red eyes at the anonymous rapist.

"Please," he begged.

Bringing the shovel down with such power, Jason shouted as he did so. With blood splattering all over the shovel and the surrounding sand, Jason began to cry tears of rage. "What gave you the right to ruin my daughter's life?" he screamed as he continuously brought the shovel down - each time more blood squirting everywhere. "What gave you the right to destroy my daughter? My baby girl? My little princess?"

The animal let out a cry of pain as Jason brought down the shovel one more time.

"Nobody else will ever hurt her," Jason shouted as he threw the shovel down onto the floor beside the car and began to sob like a child. "Nobody."


	7. Bang! Bang! Bang!

**Chapter Seven: Bang! Bang! Bang!**

Head throbbing in agonising pain, the eyelids slowly opened followed by bright blue eyes looking around into the darkness of the room. As they began to sit up, they pulled their hand up to their head before realising their hand was covered in blood. The moment the blood was in sight and the realisation that the blood began to them, they began to panic. Reaching around, a hand grabbed the railing at the bottom of the stairs of the basement and then slowly a weak body pulled itself up. The complete space was in pitch black apart from the slight light that was invading its way through the murky mesh curtains that hung at the door beside a staircase. Taking each step slowly, they walked up the stairs, still unsure as to where they were and how they had managed to get there. Placing one hand around the doorknob at the top of the stairs, the door gradually creaked open into the hallway of the Miller's house.

Californian sunshine beamed through the stained glass windows on the door that led out to the garden and created rippling patterns of coloured shimmers on the wooden floors in front of it. Two eyes began to look around the house, trying to see if there was anything that would refresh distorted memories within his mind. There was nothing. The sound of running water suddenly began to come down the stairs from upstairs. Clutching onto the wooden banister, they slowly began to heave themselves up the stairs with all the energy they had in their limp bodies in search of the running water in the hope that it would lead to answers.

In the main bathroom, Lucy leant over the bath and turned the brass handles, causing water to gush through the taps. Running her hand beneath the flowing water, Lucy found herself lost in thought for a few moments before she walked over to the opened window and stubbed the cigarette that she had just removed from her lips on the outside windowsill and throwing it out into the garden below. After closing the window, she wafted her hand around to get rid of the smell. Grabbing the lighter from her pocket, she began to light the candles that were arranged around the bath tub, creating a flickering glow of relaxation. Bubbles were soon forming in the bath. As the water continued to run, Lucy began to unbutton the top of her shorts and pulled them down her legs, stepping out of them and leaving them in the middle of the bathroom floor as she continued to get undressed. Eve was going to the salon suppliers and Jason was at work, meaning she had the whole morning at least to herself. First thing on a Monday morning meant she should have been in chemistry class with the delight that went by the name of 'Ms. King' - but since it was only two weeks since the rape happened, Eve was reluctant to send her daughter back in, especially as it was believed that the rapist was still at large and a suspected student at Westfield High.

Carefully, Lucy submerged herself into the bath and let out a huge sigh. After turning the water taps off, Lucy softly ran a wash cloth over the few bruises that remained on her body from the attack. Placing the cloth back over the side of the bath, Lucy looked down at her stomach. Reluctantly, she slowly began to rub her finger over it in a circular formation before placing her whole hand in the finger's place. She knew she should stop drinking and smoking for the baby's sake but she couldn't help herself. It was as if something inside her was telling her to ignore her own instincts. Whenever she tried to give up drinking or turn down a cigarette, she found herself yearning for it even more. The more she tried to frighten herself into giving it all up, the more she needed it to take away the pain.

With the sound of the radio playing softly in the background, Lucy sank back against the side of the bathtub and closed her eyes - her hand still taking a protective hold on her stomach. Losing her mind in a temporary bubble, Lucy had no idea that just outside the bathroom door in the hallway, a hunched up body was dragging itself slowly through the hallway.

"God would send me an angel up from above that's gonna love me for life," Lucy mumbled along to the radio, smiling to herself as she trailed her hand through the bubbles in the bath.

Glancing behind her, Lucy realised the doorknob on the other side of the bathroom to the bath was slowly being turned.

"Mum, I'm in the bath," she called back.

Even after her attempt at getting her mum's attention, the doorknob continued to turn until it couldn't be turned anymore. Confused as to what was going on, Lucy grabbed the towel from the side of the bath and draped it over herself as she stood up out of the bath.

"Mum," Lucy called but received no answer.

Apprehensively, Lucy watched as the door gradually opened. Lucy grabbed for the nearest thing she could to protect herself - a toilet brush. The toilet brush was suddenly dropped from Lucy's grip as she realised what was in the doorway.

"Jesse, where the hell have you been?" Lucy screamed, unsure of how to react as she looked on at the bruised and battered Jesse who was stood in the bathroom doorway, covered in blood and dirt.

"Lu..Lu.." he stuttered for a moment as his body yelped out in agony. "Lucy.."

"Where have you been?" Lucy asked, rushing over to his assistance, not caring about the fact half her body was exposed to him as the towel slowly began to slip down her wet body. "The police.. they said you had died."

"Lucy," he repeated.

"It's okay," Lucy smiled, trying not to panic as she pulled her towel up and wrapped her hands around Jesse's quivering body. "I'm here."

* * *

One hand on the steering wheel and another on her Starbuck's Frappuccino, Eve sang along to the radio that was blaring with the windows of the salon's van down. "Oh, I wanna dance with somebody. I wanna feel the heat with somebody," she shrieked in a tone deaf and pitchy manner. "Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me."

Just as the car was approaching a set of traffic lights, they turned to red, resulting in Eve groaning to herself as she turned down the radio and began to flick through the salon supplier's brochure that laid on the passenger seat beside her. After a quick scan through the products she needed to buy - which turned out to be most of the 231 paged book, she glanced up at the traffic lights above the road to see they were still on red. Looking out her window at the part of town she hadn't really been to before, she noticed something - someone.

"Jason?" she questioned to herself as she tried to get a closer look.

Confused, Eve realised the traffic lights had turned to green and began to drive along the road, turning around at the first opportunity she got. After parking the van up in the two car parking spots that were available outside the run down gas station where she thought she had seen Jason, Eve got out and locked it behind her - with a rough neighbourhood like this, she wasn't going to take her chances, even if she was just popping in to confirm that she was hallucinating and she didn't just see her husband behind the counter of some dirty low-end gas station by the interstate. Reluctantly, she placed her hand on the 'push' sign on the grubby door that led into the shop. She discreetly rubbing her hand on a high-visibility jacket that was hung up for sale on a rusty clothing rail that was beside the door to remove all germs she had just picked up from the door before walking further into the shop, trying to get a closer look at the server without them seeing her spying. Hiding behind a display cabinet that was full of stale sandwiches that looked like they were a few weeks - let alone days - passed their expiry date, Eve peered around the glass to see the cashier with his back to the customer as he retrieved a packet of cigarettes from the display behind the counter.

"That'll be ten dollars and seven cents please."

It was him. Eve's worst nightmare had been confirmed. It wasn't even the fact that he was working in some grubby gas station that upset her; it was the fact that he had lied to her - something he vowed to never do to her again, especially after last time. But Eve knew exactly how she was going to play this. Behind all the frustration and heartbreak, not to mention disappointment and the feeling of let down, Eve secretly wanted to have some fun at her husband's expense. Grabbing a sandwich from the display without taking any notice as to what it was, Eve began to walk back down the aisle and snaked her way through the other display stands towards the cashier desk, where Jason was stood concentrating on the cashier's till.

"Pump five," the overweight truck driver in front of Eve said to Jason as he began to tap away at the computer.

"Is that everything?" Jason asked.

Instead of receiving a polite response back, the trucker grunted as Jason before handing some shabby dollar bills over the counter. Eve smirked to herself as she hid her face from her husband.

"Thank-you," Jason replied, placing the bills into the cash box and giving the trucker his change.

As Jason began to reset the till for the next customer, Eve stepped forward from her hiding place and placed the sandwich on the counter that was covered with coffee splash marks and crumbs that had been painted into the neglected wood. "Oh, and I'll like to buy a new husband too, if that's possible."

The second that Jason realised what was said, he looked up. His polite smile had soon turned to a look of absolute horror as he stood face-to-face with his fuming wife.

"Eve, let me explain."

Eve cut Jason off before he had chance to fling back a list of pathetic excuses that he had probably been thinking up in preparation since the moment he first lied to her. "No, Jason," she snapped back. "Let me explain. I'm only gonna say this briefly as I don't want to be discussing my family business in a place like this, but I want you out of the house by tonight. I've given you chance after chance to stop your lies, but you've obviously proved me wrong so I want you out."

Jason's jaw dropped as he didn't know what to say.

"Is that understood?" Eve snarled, lowering her tone so none of the other customers could hear what she was saying.

With hesitation, Jason nodded as he watched Eve leave the shop, leaving the sandwich on the counter. Slamming the van's door as she got in, she began to cry. Tears running down her face were nearing steaming point as the rage made her cheeks flush bright red. After a few moments of composing herself in the van's driver's seat, she took a deep breath and turned on the ignition, reversing out of the gas station shortly afterwards. She didn't want to stay there any longer - for her sake and for Jason's. She knew her work here had been done as Jason would be racked up with guilt and worry all throughout his working day now and he'd be dreading going back home on the nighttime with the knowledge that an argument would be on the agenda before a dinner with his wife and daughter full of false smiles and pleasantries in small talk to fill in the time before he slept on the sofa.

* * *

Sitting Jesse down on her bed, Lucy began to dab a cotton bud onto Jesse's face, removing all the blood as softly as she possibly could without hurting him in the process. "I should become a nurse," Lucy laughed quietly to herself. "I do this often enough."

"Lucy," Jesse paused as he watched her closely. "What did you mean earlier? You know, about the police saying I had died?"

"It doesn't matter," Lucy smiled as she stopped cleaning up the bloody mess for a moment before continuing again. "It's obviously just bullshit. Isn't it? Because you're not dead. You're here."

"I don't remember getting here though," Jesse explained, still lost in a confused daze. "I don't even know where I am."

"You're at my house," Lucy replied, sitting down on the bed beside him and placing her hand on his. "You came to my party, don't you remember?"

Jesse shook his head. "The last thing I remember is Ms. King asking you that question in chemistry and you didn't know the answer to it so I wrote it down."

Lucy's face dropped as she realised how serious this was. "Jesse, that was nearly two and a half months ago."

Jesse shook his head again in confusion. "It can't be," he argued. "I remember it - I remember it like it was yesterday. It was yesterday."

Instead of replying to him, Lucy stood up in her dressing gown and walked out of the bedroom, along the hallway and down the stairs. Grabbing her father's paper that laid on the sofa in the lounge, Lucy made her way back up to her bedroom, equipped with the newspaper. As she walked back into the room, she handed the newspaper over to a bewildered Jesse. "Look at the date," she instructed.

"November 18th 2014," Jesse read. "It can't be."

"Jesse, you went missing on September 13th 2014. You've been gone nearly nine weeks."

"Where've I been?" Jesse asked, placing the paper down on the bed and looking up at Lucy. "What about my parents?"

"They think you're dead," Lucy paused. "We all thought you were dead. Your funeral was last week. Your body got found a few days before Halloween in some forest not far from here by Justin."

"Justin.." Jesse paused. "Justin Haynes?" Lucy nodded. "Justin Haynes as in Justin, my best friend?" Lucy nodded again. "Justin found my body?"

Lucy nodded for a third and final time. "He found your body. That's why everyone thought it was definitely you. He knows you better than anyone. But obviously it was a mistake because here you are now?"

Jesse smiled. "I suppose I'd better go home and see my parents. Only problem is, is that they'll want answers and I'll have none to give."

"You know where I am if you need me, don't you?" Lucy asked him as he stood up and began to hobble across her bedroom towards the door.

Glancing back, Jesse flashed a smile at Lucy, who was watching him from the bed. Rushing over towards him, she threw her arms around his body, forgetting the broken state it was in and hugged him ever so tightly. Even though every inch of his body was screaming out in pain, Jesse didn't make one sound as Lucy holding onto him was worth the agony. Eventually, they both unwrapped themselves from each other's grip and went off in their own separate ways - Jesse in the direction of the door and Lucy in the direction of her bed.

A few moments after climbing back into bed and turning on the television in the corner of the room, Lucy found herself pressing the standby button as she realised it was back-to-back Teen Mom all day on MTV - that really was something she didn't want to be watching considering everything that was going on in her life right now. She still hadn't decided what she was going to do with the baby. The majority of her thoughts were to keep the baby and bring it up herself but there was a tiny sliver of her that was adamant on getting an abortion, as, in her opinion, it was best for everyone involved. She was too young to be a mother - she hadn't even finished school yet and she couldn't put this burden on her family, not with all the stress Eve had endured over the past few months with Lizzy dying and the salon finally being opened. Time was slowly getting away as if it was sand running through her fingertips. She was already past the two month mark. She had to make a decision fast, and Jesse's return made it twice as difficult as she originally thought it would be. Nevertheless, she was so relieved to have him back, even if he didn't remember their special night together.

Standing by the window in her parents' room, Lucy looked out at the window and onto the grounds of the house, waiting for Jesse to make an appearance from the door beneath her so she could watch him walk out the gates and along the street on his way back to reunite with his family. She just wished she could have been there to see the delight - not to mention the shock - they'd be overcome with once they learned their boy was alive and safe. After a few moments of curiously prying into the neighbourhood around her that she still had yet to explore, Lucy smiled as she watched Jesse make his way slowly down the path and down the steps at the other end of the grounds. All of a sudden, Jesse disappeared into thin air. There was no sign of him to be seen anywhere. It wasn't even like he could have ran off in another direction. Within a split second, he had gone without a trace. Lucy peered around the window to see down the street as far as she possibly could yet there was still no sign of him.

"What the hell just happened?"

Turning around, Lucy was amazed to see Jesse stood right behind her.

"Surely that can't be possible," Lucy paused as she turned to look out the window and then back at Jesse, who was defeated with confusion. "I mean - you were just there. Just there. I saw you. You were just there."

"Don't you get it?" another voice asked.

As Lucy and Jesse both turned towards the door - the source of where the voice had came from, they realised they weren't alone in Eve and Jason's bedroom after all. Violet was stood in the doorway, looking at the unaware couple with a look that lacked sympathy.

"You died here, Jesse," Violet began. "You were killed in this house and now you can't get out of the house - just like me, just like my mom, just like my dad."

"No," Lucy replied in disbelief at what she had just heard.

"Just like Tate."

Lucy stared at Violet. "You're lying. He's not dead. He's not. I was here in the house that night - he didn't die. My friends saw him leave."

"No," Violet paused before she began an explanation. "Your friends saw someone walk down the path who looked like Jesse with a black hood up. Haven't you seen Tate with a black hood up?" Lucy shook her head. "He just looks like any other guy with a black hood up. Lucy, you have to believe me. Tate can't be trusted."

"I'm dead?" Jesse asked, trying ever so hard to take it all in but it was an impossibility for him.

"You're dead," Violet clarified. "D. E. A. D. Dead. Just like me."

"Stop talking bullshit," Lucy replied. "I don't even believe that you're dead. I mean, it's not possible. This is probably just some fucked up prank but it's gone way too far now. My parents are unsure of whether to believe you or your family. I'm not listening to anymore of your shit. I've had enough."

Barging her way past Violet, Lucy stormed back down the hallway and into her room, slamming her door behind her. Violet walked towards the bedroom door and stood in front of it.

"If you don't believe me, that's fine, but just don't go fucking Tate. You will give birth to the Anti-Christ."

Inside Lucy's bedroom, Lucy rolled her eyes as she heard what Violet had said. Sliding down the side of her bed, Lucy sat on the floor and looked across the room to see a bottle of vodka hiding behind the sofa that was Violet's bed just a matter of weeks ago. Biting her nail, Lucy found herself eyeing up the bottle, questioning in her mind what she should do. She was lost in confusion and the only thing that seemed to make sense to her recently was drinking. The feeling she got when she poured the alcohol down her throat took away all that confusion within a heartbeat. Crawling along the floor on her hands and knees, Lucy reached beneath the sofa and grabbed the bottle. Standing up, she walked over to her bed and plonked down on the mattress as she began to unscrew the cap on the top of the unopened bottle. As soon as the bottle hit her lips, Lucy found herself filled with regret until the clear liquid began to flow into her mouth and down her throat.

* * *

Preparing lunch with the help from Moira, Eve looked out the window onto the garden and sighed. She knew she was never going to get the garden she dreamed of. Since she was a little child there was three things she ever wanted in life - a beautiful daughter who would grow up to be her best friend; the perfect house with a perfect garden filled with flowing waterfalls and water features to enjoy with a glass of wine on a night time; and a husband who would never lie to her. Ever since moving back to her home town of Los Angeles, her dreams had began to fade. The salon wasn't turning out into what she first expected - it felt as if she was left to do everything by herself, with no help from the people she called 'staff'. Her daughter had seemed to get more and more distant as time went on. And as for her husband, his lies were getting deeper and deeper until Eve had no idea what she should do in regards to trusting him or never believing a word that left his lips.

"I hate to get involved, Eve," Moira paused as she laid out a bowl of soup in front of Eve on the table beneath the window as Eve began to slice a baguette. "But you don't seem to be yourself recently. Is everything okay?"

Eve looked up at Moira, who she'd recently come very close to, and shook out of her dazed mode. "I'm fine," she lied, serving the lie with a smile.

"Don't think of me as being rude here, but I know a lie when I'm told a lie," Moira said as she sat down opposite Eve. "So I shall ask you again. Is everything okay?"

Eve looked at Moira and contemplating lying for a second time but then she knew if she lied, it would just make her a hypocrite. "Not really, no."

"Would you like to talk about anything?"

Just as Eve was about to nod, Jason walked into the kitchen with a worried look on his face. "Jason, would you like some soup?" Moira asked, getting up from the seat and walking over to the heavy bottomed pan that stood simmering on the stove.

"Actually, Moira, would you mind just giving me and my wife a few moments alone?" Jason said. "We need to have a talk."

"Moira, do not leave this room," Eve demanded.

Moira didn't even need to look at a fuming Eve and a fuming Jason to realise there was friction between the couple - she could sense it in the air as soon as Jason walked into the room. It filled the room like a bad smell. "It's fine," Moira insisted.

The second Moira disappeared out of the kitchen, leaving the pair to their approaching and inevitable argument, Jason closed the door behind her and sat down opposite Eve at the table.

"I know I should have told you about the job but you had enough to deal with - the salon, Lucy, your mother passing away."

"That is not the point," Eve snapped. "We're married, Jason, but you have evidently forgotten that as married couples don't have secrets and they most certainly don't lie to one another."

"I was only lying to.."

"To what?" Eve asked. "To hurt me? What was the one thing I told you when you came out of rehab all those years ago?"

"No more lies."

"Exactly. And what have you just done?" Eve asked but received no response from her husband. "You've lied to me. You've broken the promise. The one thing I asked you never to do to me and you've done it."

Eve looked back down at the bowl of tomato and basil soup that laid on the table in front of her and began to swirl the spoon around in it - leaving a trail in the top of it as she did so.

"Do you know why though, Eve?" Jason began. Eve didn't lift her head up to look at Jason. She continued to spoon through the soup. "To me, right now, it seems like you're paying more attention to that mess that is enfolding in the soup bowl than you are to the mess that was happening in your life right now."

"Don't you dare accuse me of neglecting our family with attention," Eve snarled, standing up from the table and watching over her husband like a hawk. "Don't you think I know what kind of pain Lucy is going through? Don't you think I would take all that hurt away from her if I could? I can't stand the way that Lucy is now - she's not herself, distant."

"We can get her through this," Jason sighed, placing his hand on Eve's to have it soon shaken off.

Eve walked over to the sink and placed her bowl in it. As she began to run the water from the tap, tears slowly trickled down her cheek. "I want you to get your stuff and move out."

"Eve," Jason paused as he began to plea to his wife. "Don't do this. You know I only lied for the sake of this family."

"It's not the point, is it?" Eve asked, turning around and wiping off a running tear with the back of her hand. "You still lied. Ten years ago you promised me you would never lie to me again. But you've broken that promise so I'm gonna keep to my promise - you lie to me and you're out."

Jason hesitated for a moment, watching his wife as she sat down on the stool beside the breakfast bar and stared down at the grooves within the tiles, tracing them with her finger as she tried to hold all her emotions in. A lump formed in the back of her throat, stopping her from talking but it didn't really matter - she had said everything she needed to say. Reluctantly, Jason left his wife in the kitchen all by himself and made his way up the staircase towards the bedroom.

Lucy, who was stumbling out of her room at the time, carefully made her way down the corridor towards her father. "Dad," she smiled, slurring her words as she tried ever so hard in hiding her drunkenness. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Jason lied, following it with a false-hearted smile as he grabbed a suitcase from the wardrobe in his and Eve's room and chucking it down onto the bed without a care in the world. "I'm just going away for a few days."

Lucy stood in the doorway as she watched Jason pack his things up. With the amount of clothes he was shoving into the case, Lucy knew it wasn't just going to be a few days. Following Jason around the room with her eyes as he emptied all his side of the shared wardrobe into the case, Lucy sighed to himself. Jesse walked up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder. In just a matter of four hours, Lucy's world had been turned even more upside down than it was originally - if that was even possible. She was still coming to terms with the fact Jesse was now a ghost, stuck in her house for eternity, and now she had to get her head around the fact her parents were splitting up.

"My life is falling apart," she sighed to Jesse as he wrapped his arm around Lucy and held onto her tight.

Taking hold of her hand, Jesse began to lead her back to her bedroom, leaving Jason to continue throwing his belongings into the suitcase in an fury of anger. Sitting her down on the bed, Jesse rushed back to close the door and sat down beside her, holding onto her hand. As they sat in silence, Lucy had a million and one thoughts rushing through her mind. She knew what she had to do - she just didn't know how to do it.

"Jesse," Lucy paused, trying to figure out the best way to word it but she knew there wasn't an ideal way of telling him. "I'm pregnant."

Jesse looked at Lucy. "Pregnant?"

"You won't remember but the night you went missing, I had a party and we.. we.."

"Slept together?" Jesse asked.

Lucy nodded, waiting in anticipation for a response.

"The baby - the baby is okay though?" Jesse asked. "I mean, whatever happened to me didn't affect the baby, has it?"

Lucy shook her head. Just as she was about to reply, the door to her bedroom opened and in walked Jason. He sat down on her bed beside Lucy - the opposite side to where Jesse was sat. "I hope you know none of this is your fault," Jason explained, being unaware - or either completely oblivious - to the fact that Jesse was also in the room. "These things just happen. I'll be back in a few days to see you and you know I'm always on the other end of the phone if you ever need me." Jason hugged Lucy tightly and noticed the scent of vodka on her breath. "Have you been drinking?"

"I.. I.. I just had a shot of vodka this morning," Lucy lied, panicking slightly as she didn't want her father to know about her problem after everything he went through.

"You shouldn't be drinking," Jason sighed but put the issue to the side as he hugged her again. "I'll see you soon."

"Dad," Lucy paused as Jason got up from the bed and began to make his way across the room towards the door. "Why did you lie to mum?"

"What?"

"I know you lied about the job," Lucy announced. "So why did you lie to mum? After everything that went on all those years ago. You promised you wouldn't lie to her again."

"You won't understand," Jason replied, trying to hush his daughter so he could leave.

"I won't understand?" Lucy asked. "I'm not six years old anymore, dad. I'm seventeen - nearly eighteen years old. How can you say I won't understand? I'm not a child anymore."

"One day when you've got your own family, you'll understand."

As Jason shut the door, Lucy stared at the door in disbelief. Her father had just walked out on his family - his wife and his daughter - without even putting up a fight. It was like he didn't care. It was like they were a burden to him.

"Lucy, why are you drinking if you're pregnant?" Jesse asked.

"You don't know the shit I've been through in these last few months," Lucy replied sternly. "It helps with the pain. It helps take away the memories. It helps."

Jesse looked full of concern for both Lucy and their unborn child as he realised how upset Lucy really was. At first glance she looked as if she was coping, but that was merely a strong front for the benefit of everybody else. Jesse could tell as he looked deep into her eyes that she was frightened and alone.

"I'm here now," he smiled, taking hold of her hand and kissing it with his lips. "I'm never leaving you. I'm stuck here but I want to be with you."

* * *

After slamming the car door behind him as he got out of it, Jason made his way across the run down car park towards a motel that looked in a worse condition than the gas station - if that was even a possibility. He didn't even bother getting his suitcase out of the back of the car. Barging his way through the grimy swinging doors that looked like they were about to fall off their rusty hinges, Jason walked into the reception and towards an unloved desk that dominated the cramped room. Behind the desk, an overweight woman sat scoffing away at a greasy bucket of fried chicken - all her attention focused on an analogue television that was shoved in the corner of the room.

"One room please," Jason asked, regretting it the second the words left his lips.

"Room 245."

Throwing the keys to him, the woman didn't take her eyes off the television. Jason caught the keys and found they were laced in a cover of grease from the woman's fingers.

* * *

Sitting in the gazebo outside in the garden, Lucy looked out at the house and found herself resenting it. The move to Los Angeles was supposed to be a fresh start, yet life here was a hundred times as worse as it was in London. Something about the house didn't feel right. Lucy felt it the moment she walked in through the door on the first day of living in there, but it had disappeared as soon as Lizzy was moved in. As time progressed, Lucy felt herself falling deeper and deeper into a depression - something she had never experienced before. Back in London, Lucy at times felt sad but she never felt like this. This was a feeling full of emptiness. Taking another puff on the cigarette that she had in her hand, Lucy sighed to herself as she decided what she was going to do. She needed to leave. She needed to get out of the house before she found herself falling into the same fate as everyone else who seemed to live in this house before her. She knew she could never be truly happy here. Gently blowing out a puff of smoke from the corner of her mouth, she dropped the cigarette on the floor and stubbed it out with her foot. Grabbing hold of her cardigan, she wrapped it around her body and began to make her way into the house.

* * *

Sat beside an old scabby trunk, Tate began to drum a beat on the side of the battered leather with his fingers as Violet slowly approached him after she climbed up the ladder from the top floor of the house. "Congratulations," she smiled with a sense of sarcasm as she sat down on the dusty floor opposite to where Tate was sat. "You've well and truly broken her."

"I tried to protect her."

"No, Tate. You caused all this."

"I didn't," Tate argued, closing off his ears as he didn't want to listen to anything Violet was accusing him of. "I protected her."

"Protected her from what, Tate? Happiness? Sanity?"

"This goddamn house. I didn't want her to be alone, just like you are."

Meanwhile, downstairs in the study, Lucy was rummaging through the drawers of the desk in search of her passport and all the visa documentation that she would need to get the hell out of the country and back home to London. As her hands rooted through the drawer, she found herself being drawn to one piece of paper in particular. Pulling it out of the drawer, two words caught her attention - 'Tate Langdon'. Quickly scanning over the piece of paper, it was obvious to Lucy that these were some sort of notes on Tate. Slowly, Lucy sat down on the chair beside the desk and began to read through the notes with her attention in an entirety.

* * *

Stepping inside the off licence, Jason grabbed a bottle of whiskey from one of the display cabinets and headed straight towards the cashier counter. Placing the exact change on the counter, Jason walked back out the store before the cashier even had the chance to take a breath - let alone respond to Jason. As the door to the liquor store closed behind him, Jason took the short walk across the road to the motel which he had checked into just a few moments ago. He hadn't even unpacked his belongings before he headed to get the whiskey. Clambering up the stairs at the side of the motel block, Jason made his way towards his allocated hotel room. Entering the key into the lock - which was rusty like everything else seemed to be in this hotel, Jason turned it, unlocking it in the process. Walking into the room, Jason was met by a musty cloud of dust, followed by the stench of mould filling his nostrils - causing him to gag. A window stood beside the door so Jason quickly opened it up to let some fresh air in, that is if you could even call the stale air from outside 'fresh'. Flakes of paint fell from the wooden window frame as if it hadn't been opened in years. Switching on a dusty lamp on the wall beside the bed, the room was suddenly filled with a flickered light. Hesitantly, Jason closed the hotel door and sat down on the stained chair beside a dressing table, a wooden box that didn't match any of the furniture in the room at all. Placing the bottle of whiskey on the side of the table, Jason stared at the bottle.

* * *

"It's January 13th 2004 and the time is approaching quarter past ten," the news reporter said as the television set in the corner of the room played away to itself. "Serial killer Harold Shipman has been found dead in his cell at HM Prison Wakefield. The police are treating the death as non-suspicious, ruling it as suicide."

"Come on, Lucy," a voice called from up the stairs, followed by some footsteps as they headed upstairs. "It's getting late now and you have school in the morning. Get to sleep."

Eve walked into her daughter's bright pink bedroom, donning a classic layered bob - completely the opposite to her modern day medium lengthen straight hair. A seven year old Lucy sat up in her bed and grinned at her mother. "But I'm not tired," Lucy argued. "Can't I come downstairs and watch some television with you until I get tired?"

Eve hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. Tucking her daughter back into bed, Eve smiled. "I tell you what, why doesn't mummy read you a bedtime story?"

"I'm not a baby!" Lucy insisted.

"You'll always be my baby though," Eve smiled, kissing Lucy's forehead as she began to brush her daughter's soft brown hair away with her fingers. "No matter how old you are or how old I am, you will still always be my little baby girl - my little princess."

"Harry Potter please!" Lucy grinned.

Leaning over to the book case that stood at the foot of Lucy's bed, Eve grabbed the Harry Potter book and flicked through the pages until she found the page they finished on the other night. "Chapter three - The Burrow," Eve began, glancing over the pages of the book to flash a quick smile at her daughter, who was snuggling a teddy beneath the duvet, looking at her mother in excitement. "'Ron!' breathed Harry, creeping to the window and pushing it up so they could talk through the bars. 'Ron, how did you - what the -?'. Harry's mouth fell open as the full impact of what he was seeing hit him. Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car, which was parked in midair. Grinning at Harry from the front seats were Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers."

Clutching onto the duvet, Lucy listened to her mother's soothing voice, getting lost in the words of J. K. Rowling that Eve was vocalising. "'All right, Harry?' asked George."

Just outside the house, a car came crashing along the street at such a speed in the middle of the road. Luckily, there was hardly any cars about at this time on a nighttime in the relatively quiet estate in the suburbs of London. As it halted to a stop outside the Miller's family home, Eve paused reading for a moment before continuing due to her daughter's eagerness for Harry Potter. "'What's been going on?' said Ron. 'Why haven't you been answering my letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times, and then Dad came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles -'"

Keys rattled in the front door downstairs but Eve ignored it as she put on a voice for Harry's speech. "'It wasn't me - and how did he know?'"

A drunken and disorientated Jason stumbled in through the front door on the floor below, just beneath the bedroom of Lucy, where Eve was trying ever so hard to ignore the commotion that was unfolding downstairs as Jason was wrestling with his jacket, trying to get it off.

"'He works for the Ministry,' said Ron. 'You know we're not supposed to do spells outside school -'"

Eve continued to read the book, focusing on each word but both her and Lucy knew that Jason was downstairs in his usual drunken state. Eve had tried all she could to hide from Lucy the fact that her father had a serious drinking problem but Lucy was fully aware of everything that was going on in the house, regardless of how late they waited to argue or what excuses they fed to Lucy on why her daddy was out at all hours during the night and asleep during the day the following day.

"Harry moved back into the shadows next to Hedwig, who seemed to have realised how important this was and kept still and silent. The car rtevved louder and louder and suddenly, with a crunching noise, the bars were pulled clean out of the window as Fred drove straight up in the air. Harry ran back to the window to see the bars dangling a few feet above the ground. Panting, Ron hoisted them up into the car. Harry listened anxiously, but there was no sound from the Dursleys' bedroom," Eve smiled, trying to hide her worry from Lucy, who was engrossed in the book. "When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed as close as possible to Harry's window."

Eve continued to read the book until Lucy's eyes began to get heavier and heavier until they eventually closed. Placing the book carefully down on the bedside table beside Lucy's bed, Eve got up from the bed where she had been perched for the past half an hour and kissed Lucy's forehead - making sure she didn't wake up. Switching off the lamp, Eve made her way out of her daughter's bedroom, looking over her shoulder as she walked out of the room and smiled at her baby. After closing the door, Eve headed downstairs to deal with her second baby - only this one was her thirty year old husband.

By the time she reached the bottom step, she already realised what a state the lounge was in - the cushions that were previously arranged into a neat formation on the sofa were now lying on the floor; a photo frame of a family portrait was lying on the floor beneath the fireplace with the glass smashed into shattered pieces; Jason's suit jacket had been flung on the dining table at the end of the room. Picking up all the mess, Eve sighed to herself. Just as she was about to hang Jason's suit jacket on the back of one of the dining chairs, she turned around to see Jason stood in the kitchen doorways with a bottle of beer in his hand.

"Leave it," he demanded.

"No," Eve argued. "This is my house too, Jason. And I'm not having it in a mess."

"I said leave it," Jason repeated in an angry tone - raising his voice.

Grabbing the jacket from Eve's grip, he pulled it from her and threw it back onto the dining table.

"You're a mess!"

"Shut up, would you?" Jason slurred as he slumped his body back onto the sofa and turned the television up as loud as it would go.

"Turn it down!" Eve ordered, grabbing the remote from Jason's hand. "Lucy's asleep upstairs."

As Eve and Jason fought for dominance over the remote control, Jason got angrier and angrier until he lashed out, hitting Eve on the side of her face with the remote with some power. Collapsing down onto the floor, Eve looked up with a frightened glaze on her eyes, holding onto her cheek in disbelief.

"Mummy," a timid voice sounded from the doorway.

Young Lucy was stood, clutching hold of her rabbit teddy as she looked at her parents. Eve stood up to her feet and rushed over to comfort her daughter, who had tears streaming down her cheeks.

* * *

Jason's cold eyes stared at the bottle of whiskey on the motel's table. His hands were shaking as he reached over to take hold of the bottle - his whole body trembling with addiction as his fingers clasped around the glass bottle. A reunion he had waited so long for.

* * *

Emerging from the entrance of The Priory Hospital, Jason smiled to his wife and daughter as they waited in front of the family car on the other side of the road. Immaculately groomed in a pristine suit, Jason looked the complete opposite to the state he went into six months previously. As he made his way to the opposite side of the road to where his family were stood, Lucy waved at her father with a huge grin on her face. The second he stepped foot on the pavement in front of them, Lucy jumped down from Eve's arms and into her father's arms.

"Daddy!" she beamed.

Holding onto her in his arms, Jason hugged her as tightly as he possibly could without hurting her. As Jason spun Lucy around, causing her to giggle, Eve smiled on at the pair.

"Hello you," Jason smiled, kissing his wife on the cheek as he put Lucy down onto her feet on the pavement beside him. "You have no idea how much I've missed you."

"Promise me one thing," Eve paused.

"Anything."

"No more lies."

"I promise," Jason smiled.

"Because I swear, Jason. If you lie to me one more time, you'll be out of our lives for good."

"I promise."

"Let's get home," Eve grinned then, picking up Lucy from the side walk and carrying her round to the car - all three of them had huge smiles plastered across their faces.

* * *

Unscrewing the cap on the top of the glass bottom, Jason slowly began to tip the bottle back against his lips that lusted for the taste. As soon as the liquid touched his lips, he was racked with guilt and shame. Bringing the bottle away from him, he poured it into the grimy bathtub and watched as it flowed down the drain. Dropping the bottle onto the floor, Jason walked over to the sink and looked into the mirror at his reflection as he began to sob. There, in front of the mirror, he stayed for an hour in a state of self-condemnation as he broke down at the thought of letting his family down for a second time.

* * *

Trying to gather all of her thoughts together, Lucy walked up to her bedroom with the notes on Tate in her hand. As she walked through her bedroom door, she realised that Violet was sat on the sofa, looking as if she was waiting for Lucy's entrance.

"You've found my dad's notes then," Violet said, realising what Lucy had in her hand.

"Yeah," Lucy replied in confusion, looking down at the pieces of paper in her hand.

Violet stood up from the sofa and apprehensively walked across to Lucy, taking the crumpled pages from her hand and briefly flicked through the sheets, scanning her eyes over her father's scribbled penmanship. "Before he died, my dad used to be his therapist."

"Before your dad died?" Lucy asked in clarification.

Violet nodded. "He's messed up, Lucy. You don't know the half of it."

"So tell me," Lucy smiled, sitting down on the bed and looking up at Violet, waiting for Violet to tell her as she requested.

Shaking her head, Violet began to walk out the door.

"Please."

Violet carried on walking out the bedroom door but as she walked down the corridor, something inside of her told her she had a duty to tell Lucy what she knew. Reluctantly, Violet went along with her inner instincts and turned back around - closing Lucy's bedroom door behind her. As she sat down on the bed opposite to where Lucy was sat, Violet paused, trying to work out how to begin the life story of Tate. "Are you sure you wanna hear this?" Violet asked. "It's not exactly a fairytale story."

"I want to know," Lucy insisted.

* * *

Chloe Stapleton was a beautiful cheerleader who cheered for the Westfield High Wolverines, but as the final exams were beginning to dawn on her, she decided to spend the morning in the campus library to catch up on her studies. Her boyfriend, Kyle Greenwell, was adamant to spend their free period with his girlfriend so he'd sacrificed a quick football training session with the rest of the Wolverines to entertain Chloe as she studied.

"Stop it," Chloe whispered with a little giggle as she looked over the table to see Kyle grinning at her.

"Okay," he reluctantly agreed.

In another corner of the library sat Amir Stanley, who was too busy typing away at the computer to realise anybody else was in the library with him. Mr. Jessop had given him the strict deadline to have the 1994 Westfield High Yearbook all finished within two weeks, leaving Amir, the editor, no time at all to finish all the pending tasks to do with the yearbook. The clicking of the computer's keyboard could be heard by Stephanie Boggs, who was dawdling up and down one of the aisles, reading through a book.

The near silence of the library was soon interrupted by the sound of gunshots coming from the hallway on the other side of the door. Everyone looked up from what they were doing in confusion. The gunshots were followed by screaming and chaos that erupted in the school corridors resulting in more gunshots being fired. Fear suddenly overcome all the students' eyes inside the library. Footsteps began to head towards the library's door. Kevin Gedman, a punk rocker, ran into the library covered in blood. Grabbing the first chair that came close to hand, Kevin shoved it through the door handle and then pulled a book trolley and pushed it against the door in an attempt to barricade the door shut.

"What the hell dude?" Kyle exclaimed.

"Somebody is shooting up," Kevin explained. "He's just shooting people."

"Are you hit?" the librarian asked, realising blood was splattered all over Kevin's dark clothing. "Where are you hit?"

"Shit! I don't - I don't know, man. That's not my blood," Kevin panicked, looking at the blood that was now on his hands. "I was right next to Mark Finstein and the guy shot him in the freaking skull."

"Who's doing this?" Stephanie asked, trying to remain as calm as possible.

"I don't know," Kevin answered.

"We need to get the hell out of here," Kyle ordered, running towards the door but before he had chance to move the bookcase and chair out of the way so he could escape, another gunshot was fired - followed by another one.

"Dude!" the librarian shouted. "Go!"

All the students ran to different parts of the library in the hope that they could find an undiscoverable hiding place as the silence remained in the school corridor just outside the door to the library. Kyle and Chloe hid beneath a table in the middle of the library; Stephanie ran down one of the aisles and hid at the end of one of the bookcases in the far end of the library; Amir ducked down beneath the librarian's desk; Kevin and the librarian both crouched behind the librarian's desk on the opposite side of the room to the door. They all looked at the door from their hiding places as footsteps continued down the hallway in their direction. As the door rattled from somebody trying to open it from the outside, Kyle placed his hand over Chloe's mouth as she began to shriek in terror. "It's okay," he whispered, trying to reassure his girlfriend.

The door continued to shake for a few more moments before they gave up. However, the feeling of relief was soon short-lived as the students realised the second entrance to the library - a door on the other side of the library - was left unguarded. All the students eyes glared at the door in the hope that it wouldn't open but footsteps soon sounded from behind it. Kyle slid out from beneath the table and tried to rush over to the door that was beside Stephanie.

"Block - block the door," he instructed Stephanie, pointing to the door in a hush tone. "Get - get the door!"

But it was too late - the handle was already being turned. In a moment of madness and desperation to save his own life and the lives of the students, the librarian darted across from where he was hid to the door, pushing against it with all his weight. All the students watched his heroic actions from afar, praying silently to themselves that they would make it out of the room alive.

One shot. Two shots. Three shots. Letting out a scream, the librarian fell to the floor, causing Stephanie to yell in horror as she ran to the other side of the library. As the librarian laid on the floor, gasping for air, the door slowly opened and in walked a grunge-looking teenage boy, wearing an American Civil War Union soldier coat - dressed all in black and carrying a gun in his right hand.

Stephanie, who was hiding at the end of one of the book shelves, peered through the gaps in the books to see the shooter walking through the library. The whole library was in an eery silence apart from the sound of booted footsteps on the floors as he inspected the premises. Quickly making a run for it, Stephanie ran in the opposite direction to the one the shooter was heading in and crept down one of the aisles, hiding amongst the books. Whistling a tune to himself, the shooter pushed some books from a shelf that was coincidently beside where Stephanie was hiding. Stephanie screamed out in terror and fell to her knees.

"Do you believe in God?"

"Yes," Stephanie replied instantly, lying in the moment.

One shot was fired, hitting Stephanie in her head.

Kyle, noticing the telephone on the librarian's desk, got Amir's attention and pointed to the telephone that was just above his head. Just as Kyle was about to tell Amir to reach for the telephone, a plea could be heard from the seating area in the corner of the library where the shooter was now stood, aiming his gun down to the ground. "No, no. Please. Don't."

Another shot was fired.

"Get the phone!" Kyle whispered to Amir as Chloe began to sound like she was having a panic attack, struggling for breath with pure fear.

Reaching up for the phone, Amir began to frantically dial for '911' but just as he was about to press the call button, he found himself staring down the barrel of the shot gun.

Another shot was fired, hitting Amir in the jaw.

"Screw this," Kyle whispered to Chloe, who looked at him in alarm. "It's going to be okay. Baby, everything is just going to be okay. It's going to be okay."

With the uncertainty in his voice, it seemed like Kyle was trying to convince himself that it was going to be okay, as well as convincing Chloe at the same time. Chloe began to shake her head, pleading with Kyle not to do anything.

"It's going to be okay."

After a few moments of hesitation, Kyle slid out from beneath the desk where him and Chloe were hiding and stood up behind the shooter, who was busy reloading the gun. "Hey!" The shooter turned around and looked at Kyle before pulling the gun up to his head. "It's enough."

Another shot was fired, hitting Kyle directly above his eyes.

As Kyle's lifeless body fell back onto the table next to the table where Chloe was hiding beneath, she began to cry - urine running down her leg as she cried. "Oh God."

Sirens sounded from outside the school as the shooter slowly walked over to the table. Putting his hand beneath the table, he pushed it back to reveal Chloe, who was begging him not to shoot her. "Please! Please!"

Tate stared down at her as he lifted the gun up. "Why?" Chloe screamed before letting out one last shriek.

Pulling the gun's trigger back, he fired one last shot - hitting a sobbing Chloe through the heart.

* * *

As Constance made her way down the stairs of the house, fixing her hair, she began to walk towards the front door where there was a continuous sound of knocking and the doorbell ringing. Reaching her hand out, she opened the door and was greeted by a police officer who was teamed with a bunch of SWAT police officers - all of which were uniformed in their protective gear and armed with guns.

"Does Tate Langdon live here?" the police officer at the front asked, holding up his badge so it was in full view of Constance.

"He's my son," Constance replied, looking at each of the officers in turn in confusion. "Why? What has he done?"

"Alright, make entry," the police officer instructed his back-up as he stepped to the side to let them past, completely ignoring Constance's question.

Filing their way into the house in a one-by-one fashion, the officers raised their guns in front of them as they all searched around the rooms in search of Tate. "Please don't hurt him," she begged as she followed them up the stairs and down the hallway towards Tate's bedroom.

Lasers beaming from the end of their guns, the SWAT police barged down Tate's bedroom door and piled into the room, aiming the guns at Tate, who was sat on the bed in a daze.

"Please, just let me talk to him!" Constance pleaded. "Tate! Tate! No please. He's just a child."

With all lasers hitting Tate's chest, Tate slowly began to rise to his feet from the corner of his bed as Constance continued to cry outside the room to the police. Raising his right hand up to his head, he signalled to the SWAT team a gun with his fingers.

"Pow!" he snarled, making the sound of a gunshot firing as they all surrounded him, watching him closely.

* * *

Sat on her bed, Lucy looked at the floor as she listened to what Violet was saying - struggling to take in every word that was spoken. Lucy shook her head. "You're lying."

Violet shook her head. "That's the truth. Tate was killed by the SWAT police in 1994 in this very room. He has no recollection of that Tate, but he's still the same person." Violet paused as she realised how much this was affecting Lucy, who was beginning to sob in front of her very eyes. "Who do you think killed Jesse?"

Lucy looked at Violet and began to shake her head. "No. No. No! It can't be. He wouldn't. He's not.."

"He's not the same person he makes out to be. He's got problems."

"Just because he has problems, it doesn't mean he killed all those people."

Violet grabbed Lucy's laptop off the sofa and placed it on Lucy's lap. "Search Tate's name and it will just tell you what I've just said."

Violet stood up from the bed and walked out of the bedroom, leaving Lucy alone with the laptop. She remained frozen for a few moments before she looked down at the laptop that was laid on her legs. Reluctantly, Lucy lifted up the screen of the laptop and waited for it to boot up. As soon as it did, she opened up the internet browser and typed in the two words she didn't want to know the results of - 'Tate Langdon'. Scrolling through the search results, her heart dropped.

One read: _"Tate Langdon, suspect of Westfield High shooting, dead." _

Another read:_ "17 year old student, Tate Langdon, kills 15 in school shooting massacre."_

Clicking the third one, Lucy began to read the article.

_"Seventeen year old Tate Langdon was shot by SWAT police at his home following a shooting at his school, Westfield High in Los Angeles, that left 15 students dead and several others injured. A memorial plaque is planned to be hung in remembrance of those who lost their lives on the tragic day." _

Closing the laptop, Lucy rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of all the tears and stood up from the bed. Grabbing her hoodie that was draped over the rail at the foot of her bed, she threw it on and made her way out of her bedroom. Shoving her hands into her pocket, she ran down the stairs and out of the front door, ignoring her mother's calls from the kitchen. By the time Eve had made it out of the kitchen, Lucy was already at the end of the path and on her way towards the school.

* * *

Stood in front of the plaque in the library, Lucy burst into tears again. Covering her face with her hands, she found herself sobbing - something which was becoming part of her daily routine. After a few moments of composing herself, she looked back up at the plaque and took a deep breath as she began to trace her finger over the black lettering that was engraved into the gold plaque.

_In Memory of Our Fallen Brothers and Sisters_

_Stephanie Boggs_

_Jay Cannavo_

_Mark Finstein_

_Kevin Gedman_

_Kyle Greenwell_

_Kelsey Jackson_

_Danielle Levesque_

_Luke Maxcy_

_Andrew Meyers_

_Jason Mueller_

_Michael Rivera_

_Josh Sathre_

_Chloe Stapleton_

_Amir Stanley_

_Jennifer Wright_

As Lucy read each name quietly to herself, she couldn't help but think of all those lives lost - wasted.

* * *

By the time Lucy had walked home from the school, the darkness had began to set in and a storm was beginning to crawl over the city, dropping rain as the winds blew hard. Eve had settled for the night in front of the television, accompanied by comfort foods and ice cream so Lucy decided to head up to her bedroom. As she walked into the bedroom, hanging her sopping hoodie up to dry on the end of her bed, she realised she wasn't alone in the room - Tate was stood beside the sofa, watching her.

"You've got some nerve," Lucy said emotionless.

"Lucy, you've got to believe me, I.."

Lucy interrupted Tate. "I'm pissed off with all your bullshit. What was all that shit you said the other week about never letting anybody hurt me?" Lucy looked at Tate as her eyes filled with even more tears. "You've not let anybody else hurt me because you're the one who's hurt me, Tate."

"But I know you, Lucy," Tate whispered as he walked up to Lucy and put his hand on her cheek, holding onto her with his other hand. "I can see what nobody else can see - I can see what you're hiding inside."

"You don't know me," Lucy snapped. "You don't know me and you never will know me."

"Lucy.."

"No, Tate. I went you to leave me the fuck alone. I never want to see you again in my entire life. Get the fuck out of my house. Get the fuck out of my head. Get the fuck out of my life."

"No!" Tate screamed as he began to cry. "I won't let you."

"What are you gonna do?" Lucy asked. "Blow my brains out like you did with those students at your - our - school? Beat me to death like you did with Jesse? Is there anybody else's deaths who I'm leaving out?"

Tate stood looking at Lucy through tear-filled eyes.

"Get out!" Lucy screamed, pushing Tate out of her bedroom door and slamming the door shut behind him, leaving him stood in the hallway, sobbing as he held his hand on Lucy's bedroom door.

Sinking down the side of the door, Lucy crouched on the floor in a mess of tears, sobbing her heart out as Tate began to make his way down the hallway, down the stairs and out of the front door into the pouring rain.

* * *

Tossing and turning on the grubby sheets on the bed in the motel, Jason stared up at the ceiling, wondering what Eve was doing and, more importantly, whether she was missing him yet. As he looked up at the smoke stains of the ceilings, he began to make a mental note of the plan that would piece his life back together - first with his marriage and then with his daughter.

On the other side of town, Eve was laid on her bed, missing Jason terribly. Tears continued streaming down her face as she looked over to see the side of the bed empty that should have been occupied by Jason. Part of her hated Jason for breaking his vow of no more lies, but part of her hated herself for letting Jason feel like he had to lie to her to protect the family. It wasn't that much of a big deal - Jason still had a job at the end of the day. So what if they would have had to make a few sacrifices of luxuries for a while until Jason found a job he was happy with? Was it that much of a sacrifice if this was the alternative?


	8. Losing Battle

**Chapter Eight: Losing Battle**

Walking up the path towards 939 Berro Drive, Tammy looked up at the house in amazement. She'd only seen photos of it on the internet, but it was in a whole different league in real life. Making her way through the porte-cochère, Tammy knocked on the door gently and took a step back as she took a deep breath.

"Hello," Eve smiled, answering the door.

"Hey, I'm Tammy. I'm Lucy's.." she paused. "Well, I'm Lucy's friend from her math class."

"Come in," Eve insisted, opening the door fully to let Tammy past. "Lucy's upstairs but I'm sure she'd love to see you. Just go up. Her bedroom is just down the hallway. You'll know which one as it has 'Lucy' on the door."

"Thank-you, Mrs. Miller," Tammy smiled, following Eve's instructions as she walked up the stairs - a little weary as she wasn't sure how Lucy would react after the way they left things the other month.

Knocking on Lucy's bedroom door, Tammy waited for a response before she said her name. She wasn't going to just barge into her room. Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Lucy was sat on her bed, running her credit card through a pile of white powder on the side of her bedside table. The knock scared her slightly so she quickly pushed the powder back into its packet and shoved the packet beneath her bed - not realising that it slid right across to the other side of her bed due to the wooden floors.

"Who is it?" Lucy asked, rubbing her nose to get rid of any evidence of what she had spent the morning doing.

"Tammy."

"Tammy!" Lucy smiled as she jumped off the bed and rushed across the bedroom, opening the door, to Tammy's surprise, with a smile across her face. "I haven't seen you in ages."

Tammy didn't know how to react. She had planned for Lucy to be angry with her. She had planned for Lucy to be upset with her. But this? Tammy had never planned for Lucy to be happy to see her - or this happy at least. Hesitantly, Tammy walked into Lucy's bedroom and shut the door behind her. As Lucy bounced back onto her bed, Tammy watched her from a distance. "Lucy, are you okay?"

Lucy nodded. "Me? I'm fine. This is me happy."

Tammy, still unsure over Lucy's behaviour, reluctantly sat down on the end of the bed and continued to look at Lucy. "Lucy, are you high?"

Lucy looked at her as if she had just shot a puppy. "No."

"But you've been taking drugs, haven't you?" Tammy asked.

"No!"

"Lucy, I know you're lying. I can see it in your eyes," Tammy paused as she stood up from the bed and walked around the foot of it until she reached the spot where the bag of cocaine was laying on the floor. Bending down, Tammy picked it up and chucked it at a gobsmacked Lucy, who was watching her every move. "Busted."

"You don't get it though," Lucy groaned as she put the cocaine packet onto her bedside table. "Nobody gets it. I'm losing myself. I'm losing my mind. I'm losing everything that makes me feel human. And everything that kills me makes me feel alive."

Tammy got onto the bed beside Lucy and put her arm around her, pulling her in for a one armed hug as she sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise how shit you were feeling."

"That's the thing," Lucy smiled. "Nobody does. Nobody realises how sad I am because I won't let them."

Tammy paused for a moment, looking around Lucy's bedroom. "My friend's having a party tonight. Do you want to come? Hanging out in somewhere that is outside these four walls might make you feel a bit better. Surely being cooped up in here day after day can't do anyone any good."

Lucy nodded. "That'll be good."

"I'll pick you up at 9," Tammy smiled. "But on one condition.."

"What?"

"No more drugs, Lucy. Please."

Lucy looked at the drugs that had been keeping her sane for the past few weeks that were laying on the bedside table and then back at Tammy. She felt herself agreeing but couldn't stop herself as she knew fine well that she wouldn't be able to complete the promise. As soon as she nodded, Tammy smiled at her and walked out of the bedroom, leaving Lucy sat all alone in her room with all her thoughts. Leaning over to grab the bag of cocaine that she was about to take before Tammy turned up, Lucy stopped herself with all her energy and stared at it through a confused gaze. She wanted to take it but Lucy also wanted to keep her promise to Tammy - or try, at least. Settling back down onto her bed, Lucy left the bag where it was and let out a little sigh to herself, proud of her accomplishment regardless of how small it was.

* * *

Brushing off the powder that was on her dress, Lucy stood up and placed her make-up back into the bag that was placed on her dressing table. Taking one last glance in the mirror at her newly found scrawny figure with an ever-growing bump that she was still able to hide with a ruffled style dress luckily, Lucy forced a smile of her thin lips and turned around to head out of her bedroom. As she turned the light out and closed the door behind her, Eve walked out of the bathroom sporting a white fluffy dressing gown and a matching towel wrapped around her wet hair.

"You look nice," Eve smiled. "Are you going out?"

Lucy nodded. "Tammy invited me to hers for a night in with some of her friends. I shouldn't be too late back but I might stop over hers so don't wait up for me."

"Have fun," Eve called back as she began to walk down the hallway towards her bedroom.

Lucy waited until her mum had disappeared into the bedroom and shut the door before Lucy started to make her way down the hallway - her heels clonking on the wooden floors. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, Lucy heard her mother's music playing on the floor above. Rushing across the hallway, Lucy darted straight into the dining room and opened up the drinks cabinet with the key from beneath the top drawer. Grabbing the last bottle of whisky that was in the cabinet, Lucy quickly locked the door again and hid the bottle with her jacket, cradling it like it was a baby - her baby. Just as she was about to open the front door, her phone buzzed with a text message from Tammy telling her she was outside waiting for her arrival.

"Alright, I'm coming," Lucy replied before shoving her phone into her pocket.

Opening the door, Lucy was greeted with a familiar face. "Don't go."

"Tate, you have nothing over me anymore," Lucy snarled. "Get out of my way."

As he tried to barricade her back into the house, Lucy slapped Tate. "It's not safe."

"No, what's not safe is me being around you."

"Lucy.." Tate pleaded.

"Tate, just leave me alone."

Noticing the argument that was unfolding in the porte-cochère, Tammy began to make her way out of the car and down the path to assist Lucy. "Lucy, are you alright?"

Lucy nodded with a smile towards Tammy. "I'm fine. I'll meet you in the car in a few moments."

Unconvinced, Tammy made her way back down the path towards her car that was parked at the end of the path, leaving Lucy to deal with Tate. As soon as Tammy had clambered back into the banged up car, Lucy turned back to Tate and the smile soon disappeared. "I'll say it once more. You need to leave me and my family alone."

"Say it like you mean it."

Lucy looked at Tate and then down at the bottle in her hand. "Leave me and my family alone."

"Lucy!" Tammy called from the car, getting bored from waiting.

"Coming," Lucy smiled as she made her way down the steps and onto the path towards the car, grasping hold of the bottle in her hand.

Just as Lucy was about to climb into the passenger seat, she turned back around to see Tate leant against the wall of the house, looking right back at her. Keeping eye contact with Lucy, Tate continued to watch as Lucy giggled over nothing. "Come on, Tam," Lucy grinned - mainly for Tate's benefit. "Let's go get monumentally fucked up."

As soon as Lucy jumped into the car, Tammy slammed her foot on the accelerator and sped up down the street in the direction of the party - music pumping out of the speakers as Lucy began to pour shots of whiskey into the lid of the bottle, downing it quickly so that none spilt on the car's interior. Driving through the streets of Downtown Los Angeles with the bass from the music beating through the car, Lucy put her hand out the window and let it surf the winds, swaying her head along to the music. By the time that Lucy and Tammy turned up at the party, the whole place was bustling with other teenage bodies. Lucy was amazed as she realised the location of the party - one of the new glass style houses overlooking the valley. It was the complete opposite to what Lucy was initially expected, especially with receiving an invitation from Tammy, who ticked off every requirement on the socially created criteria of a stereotypically punk rocker - the tyranny resistant state of mind; the outward and individuated appearance; the heavy styled love of punk music. This party seemed to be contrasting with Lucy's expectation from every aspect. Strobe lights and flashing neon lights roamed through the glass walls and onto the grounds of the house, revealing all the partygoers that were jumping in time to the beat.

"Come on," Tammy grinned, grabbing Lucy's arm and dragging her through the crowd that were forming around the entrance of the house. "As you said, let's go get monumentally fucked up."

* * *

Running the towel through her wet hair, Eve looked down at the floor in deep thought over her husband. But unknown to Eve, she was no longer alone in the house - or her room for that matter. Stood behind her on the other side of the bed, two women were watching her every move with a glare. Both were wearing matching white nurses outfits. To the left stood a plump woman with pin curled jet black hair that fell to her shoulder and was looking at Eve through 1960s styled glasses. To the right stood a petite girl with long wavy hair of which some was pinned back, who had a collection of blood punctures on the front of her nurse outfit. Both of the females' skin was a pasty white shade.

As Eve flipped her hair back, she looked into the mirrored vase that stood on the bedside table and realised the girls stood behind her.

"Who are you?" Eve screamed, startled by her visitors.

"Look what he did to me," the plump woman whispered in a haunting tone that seemed to echo in the bedroom.

"What do you want?" Eve asked, picking up a candlestick that was on the dressing table and holding it straight in front of her as if to keep the strangers away from her.

"Look what he did to me," the petite girl repeated in the same haunting tone as her accomplice.

"I don't know what you want," Eve screamed.

"Go away!" a voice shouted from the doorway in a demanding tone. Eve looked over with a slight look of relief on her face as she saw Violet walk into the room. "You heard me. Go away!"

"Is everything alright up here?" another voice called from the hallway as footsteps rushed up the stairs.

As Violet stood looking at a frightened Eve, who had cornered herself at the edge of the bedroom, Jason hastily ran into the room and frantically darted across the room to his wife's aid. Grabbing hold of Jason, Eve began to cry. "Never leave again," Eve begged in an angrily mannered voice, slightly hitting her husband as he hung onto her. "Never ever leave again."

"You were the one that sent me away," Jason said, laughing slightly as he cradled Eve in his arms.

"I know," Eve niggled. "Never ever listen to anything I have to say about that ever again. Just ignore me. No matter how many times I say it or how many times I threaten it, just ignore me. Okay?"

"Are you going to be okay?" Violet asked as she looked at Eve and Jason.

"I'll take it from now," Jason smiled as Eve continued to cling to him for dear life. "Thank-you though."

Fidgeting with her hands, Violet pulled her attention from something that had caught her attention out of the window back to Jason as he sat Eve down on the bed. "If they come back, or any of the things in this house that make you feel like that, just tell them to 'go away'," Violet explained, flashing a slight smile at them as they listened to what she had to say. "They'll take notice of you."

As Violet walked out of the bedroom, she closed the door behind her and paused for a moment as she looked down the hallway that was only lit by the glow of the street light from outside that was flooding in by the window at the end of the stretched out room. After contemplating for a moment, she finally made up her mind and gave into temptation. Striding down the staircase and through the bottom floor of the house towards the front door, Violet was on a mission. As she walked outside, she was met by a sudden gust of wind.

"Violet."

"If you want this to work, you have to listen to me," Violet began, facing a silhouetted figure that was sat on the half-height wall of the porte-cochère. "And I don't just mean listen to what you want to listen to - I want you to listen to everything I have to say."

"I promise."

"Tate, I love you," Violet confessed as she climbed onto the wall to face him. "I've loved you since the moment you saved me but you made it so complicated. Why did you have to go and fuck it all up? I could deal with your past because you had changed - you weren't the same person. But why did you have to go and do all that stuff to my mom?"

As Violet got a cigarette from her pocket, Tate offered his lighter to her. Nodding, Violet watched as Tate lit the end of her cigarette for her. "You fucked everything up so it was just this big bullshit mess. I was so close to forgiving you before this family moved in, but then you got close to Lucy and I couldn't deal with it. I was still pissed at you." Violet took a puff of her cigarette before looking back at Tate. "It will probably always hurt to see you with someone else."

Silence took over the pair as they both looked at each other.

"Do you know what?" Tate asked, breaking the silence. "I love you. And I love her."

"How can you love us both?" Violet questioned, lost in confusion.

"You can love two people at the same time," Tate paused as he took Violet's hand and held it with his, intertwining their fingers. "But you can't be in love with two people at the same time."

Violet gasped. She loved Tate. She always had. She couldn't bare to hear the words that he was in love with Lucy - not her.

"I'm in love with you, Violet. I always have and I always will be."

Violet was left speechless. She had no words to return to Tate - she wanted to, but she couldn't find herself to bring them to her lips.

"And it's fine if you don't feel the same way about me," Tate smiled. "I understand. I will wait forever for you. Forever and a day if I have to."

Passion in her eyes, Violet took hold of Tate's hand and pulled him off the wall to stand in front of her. "Some might say it's fucked up to forgive you for what you did, but I love you. I really do love you, and love makes you do crazy shit, right?"

With his free hand, Tate brought it up to her chin and placed it on her cheek, slowly caressing her soft skin with his fingers.

* * *

Knocking back a few shots of vodka, Tammy found herself in a bubble of absentmindedness as she danced along to the music, surrounded by strangers and some friends. As she turned around to see what Lucy was up to, she froze as she realised Lucy was no where in sight. Frantically searching around the crowded house for her, Tammy began to panic. Rushing out of the doors to the pool area, she took a sigh of relief as her eyes caught sight of Lucy, who was frolicking around in the pool - still fully clothed.

"Tammy!" Lucy beamed as she waded through the waters to reach the pool's edge.

"Lucy," Tammy whispered, bending down so nobody else could hear her. "I think it's time we got you home."

"Why?" Lucy snarled, backing away into the centre of the pool. "I'm having fun. Why would you take me away from having fun? You're just like my parents. You're just like everyone else."

"Fuck you then."

As Tammy stormed back into the house in a rage, Lucy continued to splash around, throwing her head back as she laughed at nothing - slightly drawing the attention of the people that were swimming around her. Just as Tammy was about to enter the house, she turned back around to see Lucy, who was slowly looking around as her face quickly lost all its colour. Lucy fell back into the water, falling beneath the surface as she passed out. Luckily, two guys threw their drinks poolside and jumped into the pool, grabbing hold of Lucy's limp body and pulling her to the side, where Tammy was crouched, trying to help from the edge.

"It's okay," Tammy smiled to the guys as Lucy gradually came around.

"Hello boys," Lucy winked as she realised there was two hunky guys holding onto her, keeping her afloat.

"We're going home," Tammy demanded.

"Fuck sake!" Lucy groaned as she reluctantly crawled out of the pool, up the steps, to be met by Tammy, who had grabbed a unclaimed towel from a sun lounger.

Wrapping it around Lucy's frail body, Tammy began to lead Lucy through the crowds, snaking around the people and dodging broken bottles as they laid shattered on the ground - scattered all around the carpeted rooms of the house from the back of the house to the front of the house and getting more crushed into the carpets as the people continued to jump and dance along to the music that was blaring from every available speaker within the house's vicinity. "This was a bad idea, Lucy," Tammy sighed as she helped Lucy get into the car.

As she closed the door, Tammy looked through the car door to Lucy, who seemed to have a completely different persona to the girl who was just in the pool. Lucy was no longer the partying animal who was giggling and dancing in a daze; she was now a mess of emotion who was staring into space with no control over her emotions. Knowing fine well that she was over the legal limit, Tammy still clambered into the driving seat and put the keys in the ignition, glancing over at the broken Lucy for a few moments. "This was a really bad idea."

* * *

Walking through the house, Ben found himself stumbling into the lounge to find Jason and Eve sat on the sofa in silence - not even looking at each other. "Oh, sorry. I thought nobody was in," he apologised as he turned around.

"No, it's fine," Jason smiled as he stood up from the sofa and turned on the lamp in the corner of the room. "Sit down."

"Is everything okay with you two now?" Ben asked reluctantly, feeling the awkwardness that was in the room.

"You're a therapist, right?" Eve questioned curiously.

Ben nodded as he walked back into the room and sat down on the foot rest as he followed Jason's ushering instructions. "Well, used to be. Why do you ask?"

"I need therapy," Jason announced.

Ben, looking slightly shocked at Jason's revelation, began to take over his professional role. "Why do you think that?"

"No," Eve slammed. "We both need therapy. We need marriage therapy, counselling.. whatever you call it, we just need it."

"I don't really specialise in marriage therapy though," Ben hesitated, trying to get out of the situation before they dragged him into it kicking and screaming. "I could give you the number for a number of very good marriage therapists though."

"Forget about the therapy for a second then," Eve insisted. "We need your advice as a friend."

Ben looked at them and grudgingly nodded.

"Say you and Vivien were having troubles - troubles within your marriage," Jason began but didn't need to go any further as Ben knew exactly what Jason was on about - the good, and sometimes cursed, side to being a ghost was the fact that they could appear in rooms without the acknowledgement of others to listen in on conversations.

Ben cut in before Jason continued to explain their already informed troubles to him. "You both need to spend time together - just you two. Take a trip somewhere. On your own with each other. Anywhere. It doesn't matter where. Just spend time with each other and rekindle the things that made you both fall in love with each other in the first place. When you're away, get out all your feelings and emotions towards the other one - good or bad. Then when you come back home, everything will be out in the open and you can take things from there."

Eve and Jason looked at each other with a slight smile on their faces before they both turned back to Ben.

"Why don't you leave tomorrow?" Ben suggested.

Eve paused for a moment - mentally going through her appointment schedule and arrangements in regards to the salon. "I suppose the girls can hold the thought for me at the salon while we're away," Eve smiled to Jason.

"And I guess the job hunt can go on pause for a few days," Jason smiled back to his wife, who was waiting for a response from him. "We'll go first thing tomorrow."

"What about Lucy?" Eve asked. "We can't just leave her."

"She's due to go back to school in two days anyway," Jason replied, trying to reassure his forever worrying wife. "And if she's out tonight, she'll come home blinding drunk tonight and be in bed all day tomorrow with a terrible hangover. You know what she's like. She'll hardly know we're not here."

Convinced, Eve nodded. "Let's do it then."

Just as they were about to say something to Ben, presumingly a thank-you for the idea and potentially saving their marriage, the front door opened and in stumbled a drunken Lucy who had her arms draped around Tammy. "I'm home!" Lucy laughed at the top of her voice.

Walking out into the hallway, Eve and Jason both looked at their daughter and sighed. "What did I say?" Jason laughed as he made his way across the hallway and took his daughter from Tammy's arms.

"I didn't realise she'd get this drunk," Tammy began to explain - trying to clear her conscious in the process. "If I knew, I would have kept my eye on her at all times."

"It's fine," Eve smiled, helping Jason carry her into the lounge to find out that Ben had disappeared again to avoid being discovered by Tammy. "She's a bit of a wild one recently but hopefully once the final exams start for school, she'll settle down with her drinking and nights out. I suppose she is just a teenager."

"We'll leave her down here for the night," Jason said, laying out his daughter's passed out body onto the sofa and throwing the blanket over her. "That's what my parents used to do when I was.." he paused as he realised Eve's glare - she absolutely despised him talking about his drinking in the past. "She'll be comfortable down here and it's closer to the bathroom than it is in her room, I guess."

* * *

Carrying the suitcase down the stairs, Eve looked over into the lounge to see her daughter still passed out on the sofa. She could tell she'd awoken during the night due to splatter of sick that had been recently decorated onto the carpet beside the bucket that Jason had retrieved from the cleaning cupboard and placed beside the sofa in the off chance that Lucy might be sick - it was like he was a future teller.

"She can clean that us when she wakes up," Eve joked to Jason, as he walked out of the lounge.

Jason awkwardly sniggered at Eve's joke as he took the suitcase from her hands. "Is that everything?"

Eve nodded. "I'm just gonna write a quick note to Lucy explaining where we're going," Eve smiled. "You go out to the car and I'll join you in a second."

"Are you sure?" Jason asked. "You're not gonna do a quick runner out of the window, are you?"

Eve laughed. "I wish. Just go. I'll be out in a second. I promise."

After leaving a peck on the cheek cherishing on his wife's cheek, Jason headed out to the car as he carried the suitcase and dumped it in the back of the car. Slowly making her way over to the sofa, Eve looked at her sleeping daughter and sighed to herself. Grabbing a pen from the side, Eve began to scribble down a brief note on a piece of paper that was laying about the coffee table.

_"__We'll be long gone by the time you wake up but your father and I are taking a quick break away to try and sort out some things. Don't trash the house and have anymore wild parties. Remember, you're back at school on Thursday. We'll be back on Friday. Call us if you need us. Love you. Mum."_

Once she had left the note in plain view in the middle of the coffee table for Lucy when she woke up, Eve rushed across the hallway and out the open front door, shutting it quietly behind her so she didn't disturb her daughter.

As soon as the front door was shut and the house was quiet again, two figures slowly began to walk towards Lucy, who was still passed out on the sofa. With a beam of light flooding into the room through the gaps in the curtains that were hung at the window, the two figures came into view to be revealed as Jesse and Tate.

"You're not supposed to be here," Jesse said as he looked across the room at Tate.

"Neither are you."

"I just came to see if Lucy was okay," Jesse explained, crouching down beside her body.

"She'd be fine if it wasn't for you," Tate snapped.

"What?" Jesse laughed. "Me?"

"Yes."

Jesse shook his head. "What? You want to fight me for her, do you?"

Tate smiled. "It's not that. It's just she deserves better than you - some jumped up jock who thinks he owns everything, everyone."

"You are really making me wanna punch you in the fucking face," Jesse spat.

"Bring it," Tate grinned.

Before he had chance to prepare himself for the inevitable fight, Jesse chased after him around the sofa. Legging it up the stairs, Tate kept shouting things after Jesse, knowing that it would fuel up even more rage and anger in his rival - he thrived on the energy from the fight. "Whenever you and her kiss now, you know she thinks of me, right?"

As they both stepped onto the landing at the very top of the stairs, Jesse began to trap Tate into the corner by the window. Throwing Tate across the hallway, Jesse laughed. "But I will always be her first and you can't handle that."

Stumbling back up to his feet, Tate darted across the room and throttled a punch right into Jesse's stomach. It was a heck of a shot. Jesse fell to the ground with a deep thud. "There's always room for improvements though, isn't there?" Tate laughed. "I mean, the question is can she handle my big, thick dick?"

Jumping back up to his feet, Jesse stood straight up - his eyes bulging with rage as he stared at his opponent. But instead of taking another shot at Tate, who was stood directly in front of him, beckoning his retaliation, Jesse sighed and walked away in the opposite direction down the hallway.

"Why you walking away?" Tate screamed after him, fuelled with anger.

"I don't want to fight you."

As Jesse made his way down the stairs, Tate reluctantly let go of his fighting pose and began to follow him. By the time Tate had reached the lounge, he realised Jesse was stood by the window, looking at Lucy, who was passed out on the sofa where she had been laid for the past few hours.

"Why are we fighting each other anymore?" Jesse asked as he continued to study Lucy's broken body before looking up at Tate. "We both want the same thing - Lucy's happiness, so why can't we work together? Surely that will make it so much easier if we're on the same side instead of trying to make the other one back down?"

Tate found himself doing something he hadn't done in a very long time - agreeing.

"Do you know what the sad thing about this is?" Jesse sighed, placing his hand on Lucy's hand that was draped over the edge of the sofa and lifting it up to place it by her side so she laid looking peaceful on the sofa. "It's not just her anymore."

Tate looked at Jesse in confusion as he sat down on the coffee table beside where Jesse was now kneeling. "What?"

"You don't know, do you?" Jesse asked, but he didn't need a response as Tate's confused facial expression told him everything he needed to know. "She's pregnant. Four months pregnant in fact. With my baby." A look of horror took over Tate's face as he realised what Jesse had just said. He had no idea. "She's not thinking straight and there's nothing nobody can do because she doesn't think anybody knows. She's slowly pushing everybody around her that cares away because she thinks she can deal with it by herself - but the truth is she can't."

"She is so lost in her sadness that she has no idea how visible it is," Tate said, trying to hide the fact tears were welling up in his eyes as he looked at Lucy.

Jesse looked up at Tate and nodded. "This is why we need to work together to save her from herself."

Tate nodded, wiping away the tears quickly with his sleeve.

* * *

Dragging herself through the corridors of her school, Lucy was attracting the looks of all sort of people - people she had never seen before in her entire life. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her skin was pale and lacking life. Her hair was tied up in a straggly bun. She was death walking and everybody who saw her knew it. Knocking on the door to the principal's office, Lucy threw daggers with her eyes as every student who walked past her, giving her funny looks. By the time the principal opened the door, everyone in the corridor was looking at her. The principal ushered her to sit down in the seat on the opposite side of the desk to where he usually sat and shut the door behind them.

"So the history coursework is late," the principal, Mr. Rogers, said without even a 'hello' or anything as he sat peering over his jam jar glasses at the pages of paper that were scattered all over his desk.

"Yeah, sorry."

"In fact, I'm told here that everything is late - or inadequate."

Lucy repeated herself. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Look, Lucy, I've asked the teachers to all be a bit more lenient with you due to, well, you know, the situations that have been happening in your life but it can't go on anymore," Mr. Rogers sighed. "I can only do so much. You have to meet me half way with this one."

Lucy looked down at her hands, flicking her nails as if she was completely oblivious to the severity of the conversation. "Sorry."

"It's not me that you should be apologising to," Mr. Rogers continued on his boring lecture. "Do you know what late and inadequate means for you?" He paused for a moment to let Lucy reply but on receiving no response, he carried on. "Lucy, you're a smart kid - a really bright girl, but you need to help yourself. I know you can do it. Your parents know you can do it. You just need to believe in yourself that you can do it. Going by what your teachers at your previous school said, you know you can do it too."

Lucy shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm giving you an extension for your history coursework in particular to be completed first thing Monday morning."

Lucy looked up to find Mr. Rogers looking at her with disappointment. After an awkward silence filled the room, Lucy opened her mouth to speak. "What do you expect me to say? Thank-you for being so sympathetic to me? Thank-you for truly understanding how I'm feeling or what I'm going through in regards to getting raped by one of your students? Thank-you for thinking that I'm gonna still be prioritising some shitty history coursework when my life is a mess? You don't get it. Nobody gets it. I might as well just not even be here."

Standing up from the desk, Mr. Rogers walked around the desk and perched himself on the edge of the desk, taking off his glasses and holding them in his hands in front of him as he looked down at Lucy. "I am sorry for what you're going through and, as a school, we wanna help you through it," Mr. Rogers began, as if he was a broken record that kept going round and round. "But you need to help yourself in order for us to help you."

"Can I go now?" Lucy asked, ignoring every word that he had just said.

"Here's a letter for your parents to see," Mr. Rogers explained, handing over an envelope that had 'FOR THE ATTENTION OF MR AND MRS MILLER' written on the front of it in big, bold, black capital letters. "Your parents need to see this and I will find out if you don't give it to them."

Lucy snatched the letter off her principal and stood up from the chair. Mr. Rogers watched as Lucy dragged herself back out of his office and down the road of self destruction.

* * *

With a cigarette in his mouth, Jesse began clearing up all the mess that had collected on the desk in the study from the past few days since Jason and Eve had been away. As he began to pile all the rubbish into the black bag, he noticed an unopened letter that was hidden amongst all the junk that was labelled with 'FOR THE ATTENTION OF MR AND MRS MILLER' in big, bold, black capital letters. Jesse glanced over his shoulder to look across at the flat out Lucy as she slept, before turning back to the letter he had in his hands. Knowing how important it must have been if Lucy had attempted to hide it from her parents, Jesse began to rip it open. Once it was opened, he put the envelope into the bag and began to read the letter addressed to

"_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Miller," _the letter began. "_I am writing to you to inform you that I have had a meeting with your daughter, Lucy, regarding her education and discussed the issues her teachers have with her lateness and inadequateness in regards to her coursework. As you are probably aware, her coursework is a huge percentage of her grade and in order to pass her subjects, she needs to pass the coursework. With the deadlines soon looming, it is expected for Lucy to have all her coursework ready to hand in on __completion__ dates to a high standard with as much effort put into them as __possible. However,__ I fortunately have managed to persuade her history teacher in particular to extend her deadline to Monday morning at the latest but the deadline is only extended as long as Lucy agrees to complete the work in the very __generous__ given amount of time."_

Jason sighed as he continued to read the letter. "Lucy, what are you doing?"

Once he realised how serious things were getting in regards to Lucy's school work, Jesse put the letter into the bag along with all with all the other crap that was cluttering up the desk and grabbed Lucy's school bag that was placed behind the desk. Slicking his hair back with his hand, Jesse settled down on the table with Lucy's textbooks open out in front of him - surrounding him with letters and words that he knew nothing about. History was never one of Jesse's strong points but Lucy was falling well behind on it. He knew he couldn't have Lucy failing at school. Recently it was the only thing that was keeping her going. As he opened another textbook, he stamped his hand along the margin so it would stay open as he began to stare blankly at the page. Taking a puff from his cigarette, he looked across the room to see Lucy passed out on the sofa bed. After a helpless sigh, Jesse looked back at the desk to see the remaining bit of cocaine powered over the desk at one end. He knew she was slowly losing control of herself but there was nothing he could - he had tried everything. "What factors help explain the rising prominence of Black nationalism in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s?" the question on the top of the piece of paper read. Placing the piece of paper back down on the desk, Jesse sighed before grabbing a pen from the desk and writing a draft introduction.

Three hours passed and Jesse was finally starting to make a dent on Lucy's coursework. By the time the sun was about to come up for another beautiful morning in Los Angeles, Jesse had managed to complete the entire essay - drafted, edited and printed out, all ready for Lucy to hand in at school before the deadline of Monday morning.

As Jesse began to wipe up the cocaine from the desk, he looked across at Lucy and then back down at the powder that had slowly began to ruin her life. With one brisk wipe, it was gone. If only it was that easy to get rid of it completely from Lucy's life, he thought to himself. Walking into the kitchen, he sighed again as he realised how much of a state the whole house was. Emptying all the cleaning products from Eve's cleaning cupboard, Jesse got to work on making the house spotless by the time that Jason and Eve returned home. He mopped the floor. He bleached the sinks. He scrubbed the cupboards. He polished the dining table. He hoover the rugs. He swept the lounge. He dusted the hallway. He cleaned the bathroom. He made Lucy's bed. Everything was spotless - just in time for the car to pull up onto the driveway.

Quickly, he carried the tray of breakfast he'd prepared for Lucy into the study and placed it on the coffee table. Crouching down behind Lucy's head as she was still asleep, Jesse looked at her helpless soul. She was in a right mess and Jesse knew it too. He just didn't know how to deal with it by himself. Kissing her forehead repeatedly. he began to close his eyes as his lips continued to softly pat her skin. Slowly coming round, Lucy turned to look at him as the sunlight slowly streamed through the curtains into the study and illuminating half of Jesse's face.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, sitting on the coffee table as she slowly began to come round.

The sound of Eve and Jason making their way into the house with their suitcases came into the study from the hallway. "My parents." She began to panic as she got up off the sofa and looked around the room through her eyes that were covered in smudged eye-liner from the night before.

"Look, Lucy," Jesse paused as she struggled to find her shorts. "You left them in the kitchen."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Eve looked around, impressed at all the housework that had been done - she presumed by Lucy. "I tell you what, Lucy must be still in bed so why don't we make the most of our time alone and go grab breakfast somewhere in the city?" Jason suggested as he wrapped his arms around Eve and placed his head on her shoulder.

"I like the sound of that," she grinned, following him back out of the door.

As Lucy heard the front door shut again and then the sound of the car reversing back off the drive, she grinned to Jesse before pushing him back down onto the coffee table and mounting him. Kissing him, she slowly ran her fingers down his topless torso and slid them into his jeans, trying to undo his belt as she did so.

"Lucy," he paused, pushing her off him. "Just drop the dark shit, yeah?"

Ignoring his request, Lucy grinned at him and pushed him back down onto the coffee table, knocking off the pile of textbooks in the process. Giggling, she continued to kiss him - slowly moving her kisses from his lips, past his neck and down his chest.

"Lucy, I'm serious," Jesse said, holding onto her arms as he looked into her eyes. "Look, it's me. Okay? Me."

"And this is me," Lucy replied.

"Jesus. I thought we were happy," Jesse said as Lucy looked at the floor in confusion - still in a drugged out daze.

"Too fucking happy," Lucy replied.

"So you're saying we should end this?" Jesse asked.

"No. It's gonna happen."

"Why are you head fucking me, Lucy?" Lucy looked at Jesse, not knowing what to say in return. She didn't know much these days. "I can't handle it."

"Fuck off then," Lucy replied emotionlessly. "If that's what you want, then fuck off."

Jesse stayed in silence for a few moments before he stood up from where he was sat on the edge of the coffee table, leaving Lucy to sit on the sofa by herself. Following him with her eyes, Lucy realised he was following her instructions. As the door of the study slammed shut, Lucy sank back onto the sofa with her head in her hands. She began to sob quietly to herself. After a few minutes of deep thinking by herself, Lucy stood up from the sofa and began to walk into the kitchen. Just as she was about to open the fridge, the front door reopened again.

"I told you," Eve laughed as she walked into the house with Jason following behind her. "You should have put in more gas when we left the retreat."

"Did you see the prices though?" Jason asked. "Daylight robbery."

"So you'd rather have a car with an empty tank stuck on our drive than have to pay for the 15 cents per gallon difference?" Eve joked, being spun around by Jason in the hallway.

As Jason kissed his wife, Lucy walked out of the kitchen carrying a bottle of orange juice that was watered down with the last few drops of vodka she had hidden in the cleaning cupboard. "Oh, hey honey," Eve paused as she pulled away from Jason. "We didn't think you'd be up yet."

Lucy didn't reply, instead she walked back into the study. Closing the door, Lucy placed the bottle to her lips and as she was about to chug some back into her throat, she turned around.

"Lucy, I know I said I wouldn't tell anybody but you need to tell your parents," Vivien said as she walked across the study towards where Lucy was stood. "You're gonna be showing soon."

"Showing?" Lucy paused, gathering her baggy shirt together at the back and tightening it around her waist to reveal her growing baby bump. "It's a bit too late for that."

"You need to tell them and you need to get help," Vivien insisted.

Lucy looked down at her stomach and paused for a brief moment. She seemed to have forgotten about her throbbing head as she thought of her unborn child - her baby. Without any warning, Lucy turned back around and stormed into the hallway to be greeted by her parents, who were stood in front of the staircase, kissing. "Lucy, what's the matter?" Eve asked, noticing Lucy was feeling quite agitated as she stood watching them.

"I'm pregnant," Lucy burst out.

Leaving her parents in shock, she walked back into the kitchen and poured the mixture of vodka and orange juice down the sink.

"Lucy, are you.."

"Yes, I'm serious," Lucy snapped as she turned back around, holding the empty bottle in her hands. "I'm pregnant."

Eve sat down on a stool at the breakfast bar, looking like she was going to collapse at any moment with her legs shaking beneath her petite frame. Covering his mouth with his hand, Jason stood in the doorway, looking at Lucy. Neither of her parents knew what to say.

"How.."

Lucy interrupted her mother. "I'm four months pregnant."

"He did this, didn't he?" Jason asked. "That sick bastard who raped you."

Putting the bottle on the side, Lucy shook her head. "No." Turning back around, Lucy began to walk out of the kitchen but was stopped by her father.

"Lucy, you need to tell us," Eve demanded as she stood up and placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

Lucy contemplated for a moment before sitting down on the stool on the opposite of the breakfast bar to where her mother was just sat. Taking a deep breath, she placed a hand on her bump and looked up at her mum. "I don't know the father, alright?" Lucy asked - lying as if it was a second language to her.

"We didn't bring you up to be like this," Jason raged. "We didn't bring you up to be that sort of girl."

"Bring me up?" Lucy laughed at her father. "You didn't bring me up, dad. You just dumped me on mum. All I remember about growing up was you being drunk and hitting mum, or you disappearing for months on end whilst you attempted rehab. You can't say that you didn't bring me up like this, because you didn't. Yes, ever since you got out of rehab for the last time, you have been making it up to us. But you can never, ever, ever say that you didn't bring me up like this."

Standing up from the breakfast stool, Lucy walked out of the kitchen, leaving both of her parents in a state of amazement after Lucy had finally told them how she was feeling - something she had never done before to them. Eve looked across at her husband and sighed, placing her head into her hands as she began to cry at the mess that her life had become. As Lucy slowly walked up the staircase, Jesse met her halfway and took hold of her hand.

"I told them," she whispered, looking through her empty eyes. "But I couldn't tell them about you."

Jesse wrapped his arms around Lucy's fragile body and held her in his embrace. "It's okay."

"I'm sorry."

Jesse held onto Lucy as tightly as he could. "It's okay," he repeated, kissing her forehead before leading her up the stairs and down the hallway towards the hatch in the ceiling that led to the attic. Meanwhile, downstairs in the kitchen, Jason and Eve remained in silence, lost in a cloud of regret over their daughter.

Holding out his hand for Lucy to take, Jesse continued to climb the ladder up to the attic - a place Lucy had yet to explore. A window in the corner let a little bit of light into the room, but apart from that, the room was in a complete shadow of gloom. A thin blanket of dust lined the wooden floorboards along and laid on the clutter that belonged to the long list of previous owners of the house that was shoved into boxes around the perimeter of the room. Lucy laid down on the floor and stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before Jesse sat down beside her.

"From the moment I saw you, I knew you'd be the closest I'd get to being.. close. I've never had anything like that before."

"Listen, Lucy," he kissed her lips softly before looking down at her. "You're the closest.."

Before he had the chance to finish his sentence, Lucy interrupted him. "But they know now. They know that you make me happy. And they're hungry - really fucking hungry. Because for as long as I can remember, they have always been there in the shadows. They have been chasing me, waiting for this moment, and now they're ready and they're strong enough to get through - strong enough to break through and to get me. But I can't fight them any longer. I used to be able to when I was strong but you've made me weak. You've made me so fucking weak and I can't. I really can't fight them anymore."

"I can fight them for you. I can be strong for the both of us. I promise."

"But they've already got you though. Haven't they?"

"Who have?" Jesse asked, looking at Lucy in confusion as he realised she was losing it. "Lucy, who's got me?"

"The darkness. The darkness has got you. And it's gonna get me. But I don't want it to get me. It's gonna get me. I know it is. But I don't want it to get me. And I can't fight it no longer. It's gonna get me."

"For as long as I'm here, nothing is going to get you. I'm here forever. You and me. Forever." Jesse picked up Lucy's hand that was laid on the dusty floor of the attic and held it tightly with his own hand. "This," he paused as he lifted their interlocked hands into her view. "This is forever, Lucy. I'm not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere. We're in this together. Together forever. I promise."

"But the end."

"What end? Lucy, what the hell have you taken?" Jesse began to panic now as he realised his reassurance wasn't making a blind bit of difference - Lucy was either not understanding or not paying attention to what he was saying. "You're not making any sense at all."

Lucy turned to look at Jesse as she laid on the floor in the attic. "My end."

Looking back up the ceiling, Lucy paused motionless for a few seconds before she pulled herself up with the little bit of energy she had left in her body and began to make her way down the ladder from the attic. Walking towards the bathroom, Lucy ignored the calls from Jesse as she dragged herself along the hallway in an effort draining commotion. Downstairs, Eve and Jason were having yet another argument about their daughter and the predicament she was in, not knowing what to do and having no idea about what was going on upstairs. As Lucy bolted the bathroom door locked, Jesse began to bang on the door, trying to make her see sense as he realised what she was planning. "Don't you dare, Lucy!" Jesse shouted. "Lucy, unlock the door now. Please!"

Ignoring Jesse's pleas, Lucy began to cry as she picked up her razor from the cabinet and gradually began to move it towards her neck, wondering what it would be like to feel the pain as she slashed her throat. Surely it had to be less painful than what was going on in her life now.

"Don't do anything, please."

Startled, Lucy turned around to see that Violet was stood in the corner of the bathroom, watching her as she was about to pull the blade across her throat. "Why not?" Lucy cried. "I've got a war in my mind and the only problem is that being at a battle with your own thoughts means that you can either in or die trying, and I'm not gonna win this. It's too strong for me. And I'm too weak."

Violet slowly walked over to Lucy and took the razor from her trembling fingers. "I killed myself. I succeeded at suicide and trust me, I never wanted to die. Dying is just darkness. I let the darkness consume me but you can still survive it - you can still come through this at the other end with a smile on your face. You just need to realise what you have worth living for."

"Nothing."

"You have a baby. You don't realise it now but that baby needs you. If you die, it dies. Do you really want that?"

Lucy placed her hand over her tiny baby bump and slowly shook her head - not taking her tear-filled eyes from her stomach.

"There's someone I think that wants to see you," Violet paused as she pointed to behind where Lucy was stood.

Still clutching onto her stomach, Lucy turned around to see Lizzy stood beside her with a warm smile across her face. Tears were still rushing down Lucy's face but they intensified as soon as she clapped eyes on her surprise guest. "Nanny Lizzy," Lucy sobbed.

"Don't cry, my child," Lizzy smiled, holding onto her granddaughter. "You know you are never alone. I'm sorry for leaving you but I'm always here. Whether you see me, I am always here."

"I don't know what to do," Lucy cried. "I'm losing a battle that I don't even wanna be in in the first place."

Lizzy sat Lucy down on the edge of the bath tub and held onto her face with both her hands.

"You're really here, aren't you?" Lucy asked as she looked up through the tears into her beloved grandmother's eyes.

Lizzy nodded with the same lovingly smile across her face that Lucy remembered her by. "I'm here, sweetheart. But you need to listen to me, okay?"

Lucy didn't nod. She didn't even say anything. She just followed her grandmother's instructions and listened attentively to every word Lizzy had to say to her.

"Lucy, you can't go on like this anymore. I know about your baby - your very beautiful baby. But you cannot carry on with this anymore. You need to get help - professional help, for your sake and for the baby's sake. Something in this house is needing that baby to be alive because with the amount of alcohol you've been consuming and the amount of drugs you've been taking, that baby would not have been able to survive to now."

Lucy gulped as she realised Lizzy knew everything that had been going on in her life over the past few moments.

"You're not alone. Never, ever think that you are alone in this. Your mother loves you more than anything in this world. You'll know what that feeling is like once the little one is born. Do you think if your mother knew exactly what you had been doing recently that she'd let it happen?"

Lucy shook her head.

"So this is what you're going to do," Lizzy stopped as she was interrupted with an eruption of shouts from the other side of the door.

"Lucy! It's me - mum," Eve cried from the hallway, placing her head against the door as she tried to plea with her daughter. "Please, just unlock the bathroom door so we can talk. We're not mad at you. We want to help you."

As Jason rushed back down the stairs to grab something to force the door open with, Jesse continuously barged against the door in an attempt to break it off its hinges but it was no use - the door wasn't even budging the slightest.

"Ignore them for a moment," Lizzy ordered as she gently turned Lucy's head back to face her. "Just focus on my voice. Okay?"

Lucy nodded.

"You, Lucy, my little Looby Lou - you're going to get through this. I know you are. You're going to, in a minute, open that door and you're going to tell your mother that you need help, you want help, because I know you want help to get through this pain and hurt that you're feeling inside," Lizzy smiled, wiping a tear that was slowly trickling down Lucy's face with her thumb. "And when you get home, I'll be waiting for you to give you a huge hug."

Lucy nodded again.

"So what are you going to do?" Lizzy asked.

"Get better," Lucy sniffled.

As Lizzy disappeared from her view, Lucy looked around the bathroom to see that nobody else was in here - had she imagined it? She didn't know. But following his promise to Lizzy, Lucy stood up from the edge of the bath tub and made her way across the bathroom towards the door, taking a deep breath before she reached out for the handle. As soon as she opened the door, Eve wrapped her arms around her daughter and began to sob into her shoulder.

"Mum," Lucy paused - her voice quivering as Eve continued to cling onto her. "I want help."

Jason, who was running his way back up the stairs with an axe, stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down the hallway towards his wife and daughter - his world. Propping the axe up against the wall, Jason slowly walked over to them and put his arms around the both of them as Jesse watched from a distance. After a few moments, Jason and Eve backed away from Lucy, giving her some space to breathe, and began to walk down the stairs as they prepared to ring for a taxi since their car was still stuck in the drive, gas-less. Stood in the hallway, Lucy looked over at Jesse through her red raw eyes. Instead of saying anything, Lucy rushed across to him and threw her arms around him. Burrowing her head into his shoulder, she began to cry as he gently rubbed her back.

"I'm gonna be right here waiting for you," Jesse reassured as he cried himself. "I promise. Everything I said earlier.. I meant it. Every single word of it."

Lucy pulled back from Jesse's clutch and looked into his eyes. "I'm gonna get better. For you. For the baby."

Jesse nodded, forcing out a smile for Lucy's sake.

"Lucy, are you ready?" Jason called from the floor below.

Lucy took one last look at Jesse before she turned back around and began to walk down the hallway towards the staircase. As she placed her foot on the first step, she noticed a little bundle of fluff was sat on the perfectly polished banister at the top of the stairs. "Tabby," she whispered to herself as she gently stroked his fur - him purring back to her with his soft voice. "I'll see you soon. I promise."

* * *

The stench of clinical disinfectant hovered through the air as Jason and Eve stood at one end of the institutional white corridor that was lined with doors and windows into different wards. With Jason's hand around Eve's shoulders, they both looked down the corridor as their daughter was getting wheeled in the opposite direction to them. As she disappeared with the nurses pushed her through a set of white double doors at the end of the never-ending corridor, Eve collapsed into her husband's arms into a flood of tears.

"She's gone."


	9. Obsessions - Part One

**Chapter Nine: Obsessions [Part One]**

Leaning his head against the wall of his bedroom as he laid in bed, tapping away at his phone as he looked at the screen through his tired eyes, Johnny found himself slowly falling asleep. Just as he was about to nod off, he dropped his phone onto the floor, causing a huge thud as it hit the wood - waking him up. Grabbing his phone back up from the floor, Johnny looked around his messy bedroom and over at the Mickey Mouse alarm clock he had in the corner of the room - something his mother refused to let him get rid of since it was the only thing the family had left from when he was a baby.

"Are you going to do anything today or are you going to just lie in bed all day like normal?" Johnny's father, Antonio, sighed as he revealed himself in his son's bedroom doorway, looking down at his son in disappointment.

"I went for a run earlier," Johnny replied, paying no attention to his father's appearance and concentrating entirely on his phone screen. "And went to the coffee shop."

"That isn't a life," Antonio scoffed as he walked into his son's bedroom and looked down at him with eyes of disappointment. "How can you think that is any sort of life?"

"It makes me happy."

"Happy?" Antonio sniggered. "You don't know the meaning of the word 'happy'. All you've done for the past few years is cause this family devastation and disappointment. That's all you are though, isn't it? You're just one big disappointment. Maybe that's why your mother left."

"No, mom left because you're an uptight asshole that can't keep his dick in his pants."

"You know it wasn't like that at all," Antonio argued back.

"Fuck you, dad. You're not even my dad. You're just some guy who lives in the same house as me. You've never been a dad to me. And mom, she was no better. You were both out just for what you could get. Neither of you gave a fuck about anybody else apart from yourselves. Maybe if you weren't such a greedy dick and mom wasn't such a slut, maybe this family would have worked out better."

Antonio, looking through eyes of anger, scowled down at his son. His lip quivered as rage began to build up inside him. "Don't you ever talk about your mother like that again. Ever."

"What are you going to do?" Johnny laughed. "Are you gonna hit me like you hit mom? Are you gonna put me in hospital like you did with mom?"

"I can't be doing with this now," Antonio growled, slamming the door behind him after he walked into the hallway away from his son.

"Fuck you, dad. Fuck you. Fuck everything. Fuck this house. Fuck my mom. Fuck this stupid planet. I fucking hate it all," Johnny shouted after his dad as he leant back against the wall behind his bed and slammed his head on the headboard. "Fuck."

A few moments had passed since Antonio had stormed out of his son's bedroom and headed off to work for the night shift. Johnny closed his eyes as he laid motionless on the bed. But the silence was disturbed as out of nowhere, Johnny's phone began buzzing.

"A party?" Johnny asked as he placed the phone to his ear. "Sure. I'll be there."

_Johnny wasn't your average teenage boy who lived within the upper class area of Los Angeles. The usual boy you would encounter in that area would be well groomed, well spoken and well educated - a true bachelor. Johnny, on the other hand, couldn't be more of a contrast, even if he tried. Johnny's family was also not like the usual family. His mother walked out on the dysfunctional family when Johnny was eight years old and his father had taken to being a workaholic to cope, leaving Johnny to fend for himself throughout the latter years of his childhood. Now, aged seventeen, Johnny took out his anger on drinking, partying and taking drugs - not that his father would have cared, even if he knew what his son was really up to._

Throwing on a jacket that was flung across the end of his bed, Johnny jumped up and began to walk out of the room, grabbing his car keys as he did so. Running down the staircase and through the hallway, Johnny didn't give the house one last look as he stepped out of the front door and continued in the direction of his car that was parked on the driveway. Starting up the engine, Johnny soon began reversing off the drive with one intention in mind. The sun was already beginning to set over Los Angeles, creating a beautiful array of pinks and purples in the sky. The sound of the muffled radio hung around in the background as Johnny made his way down all the roads towards the address he had been given for the party. By the time he had turned up, darkness was settling in as the party was getting started.

* * *

Scanning the barcodes of the customer's products, Jason sighed to himself as he looked around the dingy gas station where he had been working for the past five months. No matter how many times he tried to look for another job, there was nothing. He was slowly losing hope in ever getting out of this place. He couldn't even share his worry with his wife as he didn't want her to deal with anything else - she was already entering into worry overload with everything that was going on at home with Lucy.

"That'll be seven dollars fifty, please," Jason asked, trying to put on a happy attitude for the customer's benefit but it was no use - Jason smelt of desperation. "Can I interest you in a SatNav for 22.50?"

"No thanks," the truck driver replied, handing over a crumpled bundle of one dollar bills. "Keep the change."

Jason sighed to himself as he placed the bills into the cashier's till and watched as the truck driver left the shop. Taking his usual perched position on the stool that sat behind the counter, Jason let out another exhale of air before grabbing a newspaper from the rack behind him and flicking through it in search of the recruitment section. Just as he found it, his phone began to ring from beneath the counter. Reaching over to answer it, Jason was slightly taken back as he recognised the number on the display. "Hello, Jason Miller speaking."

* * *

"Hey, pretty lady with the high heels on. You give me fever like I've never, ever known. You're just a product of loveliness. I like the groove of your walk, your talk, your dress," Eve began to sing to herself as she danced around the kitchen to the beat of her Michael Jackson album that was playing through the stereo. "I feel your fever from miles around. I'll pick you up in my car and we'll paint the town. Just kiss me baby and tell me twice that you're the one for me - the way you make me feel."

Waltzing into the hallway, armed with a pile of laundry that she was going to put in Lucy's suitcase to take to the hospital later on, Eve's performance was interrupted by a knock at the front door. "I like the feelin' you're givin' me. Just hold me baby and I'm in ecstacy," she hummed to herself as she walked across the hallway towards the door.

Pulling the door open, she was surprised to see a young - well, late teens - boy in front of her.

"Mrs. Miller, I'm.."

Before he had chance to finish his sentence, Jesse was interrupted by Eve. "I know who you are," Eve smiled. "You'd better come in."

"How do you know..?" Jesse asked, slightly confused as he made his way back into the house that had strangely became his home for the past six months.

"Your name and picture was all over the headlines when you went missing and your body was discovered," Eve began to explain. "Then last week when Lucy.. when everything happened, you were there and I put two and two together."

Jesse was unsure how to respond. He didn't want to upset Eve with asking about Lucy, but he wanted to know how she was doing. He didn't want to tell Eve about being the father of Lucy's baby, as he was unsure of how much she really knew.

"Let me turn the music off, make us both a cup of cocoa and then we can have a proper talk," Eve smiled warmly before leaving Jesse in the hallway as she headed back into the kitchen - just in time for the song to have finished playing and just before another one was about to begin playing.

Stood awkwardly in the hallway, Jesse debated silently to himself over what he should do. After a few moments of contemplating, Jesse finally plucked up the courage to walk into the kitchen to join Eve as she began simmering some milk on the stove in a pan.

"Lucy used to love having hot cocoa when she was growing up," Eve smiled as she began to slowly stir through the milk, staring into the white liquid as she was lost in a deep trail of thought over her daughter. "You don't get much rain here but back in England, it would always be raining. Whenever it was raining when she was at school, I'd pick her up from school in my car and as soon as we got back home, she'd run and get some huge towels and I'd put the fire on and make some cocoa. We'd spend hours sitting in front of the fire, drinking cocoa and talking - just me and her."

"She's a great girl like that," Jesse said, attempting to comfort Eve.

"She is," Eve smiled.

"I hate to ask, but how is she?" Jesse asked, regretting it as soon as the words left his lips.

"Don't worry about asking," Eve smiled. "She's doing fine - well, fine considering the circumstances. She's starting therapy in a few days. And the baby is fine too. Nice and healthy."

A huge weight seemed to lift up off of Jesse's shoulders as he found out they were both going to be okay, but the relief was soon short lived as Eve announced something.

"I know the baby is yours."

Jesse's jaw dropped as he tried to search for the words that he could say to Eve - but there was nothing.

"I'm not mad. I just wish either of you would have told me before now," Eve sighed as added a few spoonfuls of cocoa powder to the simmering milk in the pan and gave it a brisk stir. "I could have helped."

"I just thought I could help her on my own," Jesse replied. "I didn't realise I couldn't cope without help."

"It doesn't matter now," Eve smiled as she turned around from the pan and gave Jesse her full attention. "We just have to promise that we're gonna work together from now on. Lucy needs us more than ever now. There is only so much that she will be able to do on her own. She's gonna need our help to rebuild her back to her old, happy self when she's released."

Jesse nodded. "I'm willing to do anything for her, for them both."

Eve flashed a smile at Jesse before turning back to the stove and grabbing the pan off the heat. Carefully, she poured it into two mugs and handed one to Jesse. "Lucy will absolutely hate me for this but I'll show you some of her baby photos," Eve grinned as they both began to make their way into the lounge, carrying their mugs of cocoa.

As soon as they were both sat on the sofa and placed their mugs on the coffee table in front of them both, Eve rushed across the room to the book case that had all the photo albums displayed on it and grabbed as many as she could - which turned out to be all of them. Plonking them down on the seat between Jesse and Eve, she began to rummage through the selection of photos. Handing over a photo to Jesse, Eve had a huge grin plastered across her face as she looked down at the memories that were in her hand. "This one is when Lucy was about five years old," Eve beamed. "We took her to the beach and she ended up spending the entire day building the fort. She even made me and her father, Jason, sit in the fort so she could see how big she had made it. I have never seen somebody as devastated as she was when the tide came in and washed all her hard work away."

"She had blonde hair?" Jesse observed, surprised as it was the complete opposite to Lucy's dark hair that she had now.

"She had blonde hair for the majority of her childhood years," Eve smiled. "It got darker as she got older and when she was twelve, it just stayed brown and it's been that colour ever since." Eve flicked through the last book of photos, showing each one to Jesse in turn. "This is from our last Christmas back in England. Jason's sister had just had a baby so they came to visit us and this is Lucy with little Isobelle."

"She looks so different," Jesse smiled down at the photo.

"That's the Lucy she was in England. She was the modest little brain box that everybody knew and loved," Eve reminisced. "Something about this house changed her. But we can get that Lucy back. I know we can."

"We can and we will," Jesse reassured, handing the photo back to Eve as she handed him another one.

"Here she is just a few hours after she was born," Eve beamed. "You'll have to forgive me about the hair. The 90s perm isn't as fashionable now as it was back in the day."

Jesse laughed as he looked at the photo Eve had given to him. "She was so tiny."

"She was always small," Eve replied. "She didn't really get her final growth spurt until she was fourteen. Now she's as tall as I don't know what. Sometimes I'm intimidated to stand beside her as she makes me look so short."

"She's so beautiful though," Jesse smiled but pausing as he realised he had in fact said his thoughts out loud.

"She's lucky to have you, Jesse, you know?" Eve grinned as she placed the photo albums on the coffee table. "Her and the baby."

Just as Jesse was about to reply, their little bonding session over photos of Lucy was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and Jason walking through the doorway into the house. The second he walked into the lounge to be met by Jesse and Eve, Eve knew automatically that something was wrong with her husband - the look on his face said everything.

"What's up?" Eve asked, standing up and putting her hand gently on Jason's arm as he stood in the middle of the room with a look of disbelief. "What's happened? Are you okay? Is everything okay?"

"I'm.." Jason paused as he tried to come to terms with what he had been told. "I'm fine. I've got a job."

"A job?" Eve questioned. "That's great, isn't it?"

"It's head of medics at the hospital," Jason added.

"But that's amazing, isn't it?" Eve asked, confused as to why her husband looked so devastated - not to mention looking like he was riddled with guilt. "I mean, that's the job you wanted. You can make the hospital your own now and do what you want. You can turn it into the place you want it to be without having to answer to anybody."

"It's great but.. he's dead."

Eve looked even more confused at her husband. He just wasn't making any sense to her. "What are you on about?"

"Kinksy. He's dead."

"Your old boss?"

Jason nodded. "He killed himself."

"That's awful," Eve paused, unsure of what else she could say so in the end decided to keep hush and let Jason continue.

"His son went missing and he couldn't deal with the guilt so killed himself."

* * *

Straightening out his suit that had been in hiding at the back of the wardrobe for the past five months, Jason smiled to himself as he looked at the black material in his hands. Even though it was in unfortunate circumstances, Jason still couldn't help but feel happy that he had finally got his chance to prove himself in the LA medical industry. This was his opportunity to make his family proud of him and change the way the main hospital in Los Angeles dealt with their patients - treating them as people, not business clients as Dr. Kinksy originally treated them like.

"You look smart," Eve beamed as she walked into the bedroom to find her husband looking at his reflection as he patted out the odd crease in the suit jacket.

"You have no idea how long I have waited to put the suit back on," Jason smiled to his wife.

"Well, you deserve it," Eve gushed. "I'm so proud of you. We're finally getting this family back on track."

"We'll stick together from now on," Jason promised.

"A family who stick together stay together," Eve added.

"Exactly," Jason beamed. "Now, red tie or blue tie?"

Jason held out two ties from the wardrobe for Eve to choose between. Running the red tie through her fingers, Eve placed it around Jason's neck and began to tie it neatly, tightening it slightly around his chin so it fit perfectly in his shirt. "Perfect."

"What are your plans for today?" Jason asked as he took one final look at his reflection in the full length mirror that was stood proudly in the corner of the room.

"I'm gonna go back to the salon and do a few hours. See how the girls have been coping without me," Eve smiled.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I'm sure the girls will understand and hold the thought for a few days longer if you're not ready to go back."

"No, I'm sure I can manage work," Eve replied, trying to reassure her husband. "Lucy's in a safe place and getting help. I'm not much use in the house. I'll probably drive myself crazy too if I don't get out of these four walls soon."

"I shouldn't be home too late," Jason smiled as he kissed his wife's forehead. "I'll take you out for a meal tonight to celebrate."

"That'd be nice," Eve beamed.

Jason turned to leave his wife in the bedroom as he made his way to work. "Have a good day."

"You too."

* * *

Walking into Jason's new executive office, the receptionist flashed a smile to her newly appointed boss as she placed a file of paper on his desk. "Good morning, sir. These came for you from the x-ray department. If you could just check everything is okay and place them back on my desk as soon as possible, that will make me very, very happy."

"Sorry, you are?" Jason asked as he looked up from his computer screen at the tall blonde who had legs up to her armpits.

"Megan," the receptionist replied with a seductive tone about her voice. "Megan Charles. The receptionist."

"Ah, right. Megan. Nice to meet you," Jason smiled, holding out his hand for Megan to shake.

"If you ever need anything," Megan paused as she placed both her hands on the edge of the desk and leant over slightly to reveal the top of her cleavage so it was in plain sight of Jason. "If you ever need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask me. I'll gladly help you with anything."

"Thank-you," Jason nodded, ignoring Megan's flirtatious advances.

Megan ran her hands down her slim figure, straightening out her skirt and shirt before she turned back around and walking towards the door out of the office.

* * *

Rearranging the shampoo and conditioner bottles that were stood on the side of the sink basin in the salon, Eve sang along to the radio as she wiggled her hips along to the beat of the song that was playing in the background of the salon. Satisfied customers had been in and out all morning, requesting different treatments and styles, but now the salon had quietened down, Eve had sent her staff on a well-deserved lunch break, giving her a chance to check how the salon had been doing in the past week of her absence.

Just as Eve was in the middle of counting the stock that was displayed on the glass shelves beside the nail treatment bar, the door to the salon opened and in walked a figure. With her back to the customer, Eve signalled over to the waiting area that had been designed into the corner of the room with a plush sofa and a collection of glossy magazines to entertain her customers as they waited. "I'll be with you in a few moments. If you wouldn't mind just taking a seat in the waiting area and I'll sort you out in a second or so."

The customer complied with Eve's instructions and sat down on the sofa, draping a colourful headscarf over the side of the sofa's arm and placing a pair of sunglasses on top of the luxurious fabric.

After making a quick note of the stock numbers on a pad that was sat on top of the counter, Eve looked over to the waiting area. "Constance," she said, shocked as soon as she realised who her mystery customer was.

"Hello Eve," Constance smiled, standing up and giving Eve a warm, friendly hug. "How have you been? I've been meaning to come see you as I heard about Lucy but I've been dealing with my own grief."

"Grief?" Eve asked. "Lucy didn't die. She's just not very well. She's getting better though."

"Oh, dear," Constance paused as she picked up the headscarf and glasses and placed them in her bag that was hanging by her elbow. "You might not have lost her as such but you have lost her to that house."

Eve looked at Constance in confusion before brushing off Constance's comment with an undefeated nod. "How can I help you today?"

"Well, I usually have my hair done by a lovely lady across town but she sadly.. well, passed away shall we say." The tone in Constance's voice caused Eve to grow suspicious - it was like she knew more than she was letting on, but Eve let it drop and continued to listen to her. "So I thought I'd give you a try. I've heard many good things about this place so don't let me down. I know what you British folk are like with your make-do hairstyles and your incompetent beauty skills."

Ignoring Constance's insult, Eve led Constance over to the chair that was stood in front of a mirror and began to take on her hairstylist role, following the stereotypical protocol with regards to questions - first asking what style Constance was after and then evolving the questions into general chit-chat with the generic holiday question thrown in mid-conversation.

As Eve began to chop away at Constance's hair, wishing that she had the courage to injure her slightly, Constance changed the conversation back onto Eve's daughter. "Which hospital is it that Lucy is in?"

"I hope you don't mind but I don't really want to be discussing my daughter whilst at work," Eve insisted.

"That's fine. That's fine," Constance smiled, looking into the mirror's reflection at Eve as she concentrated on Constance's blonde curled hairstyle. "Such a shame really. She's a lovely young girl - so much potential. And that poor baby. She can't bring up a baby in that house. It isn't safe. The baby deserves a happy childhood outside of that house."

Sighing, Eve reluctantly gave into Constance's constant attempts to bring the conversation's topic back to Lucy. "I'm sure we'll organise something when the time comes to it."

"But she's what? Eight months pregnant?" Constance asked.

"Seven."

"Exactly. Seven months pregnant. You haven't got much time to really sort something out, do you?" Constance added, transfixing all her focus on the baby that had nothing to do with her in the first place. "The little baby will be making an appearance soon and then it will be too late."

"Constance, I hope you don't take this as rude," Eve paused as she grabbed the spray from the counter and began to spray water over Constance's hair. "But the baby really has nothing to do with you. The house has nothing to do with you either. Neither does my daughter, my family. None of it is to do with you. I don't mind a little bit of gossip but when it's focusing on my daughter, then I mind. So please, can we change the subject or if you can't change the subject, can we just have silence?"

"Fine. Fine."

After a few feeble attempts at driving the conversation in another direction that wasn't related to anything about Lucy, the baby or the house, both Constance and Eve decided that it was best to continue in silence - an awkward, eery silence. Not even the sound of the muffled radio playing in the background could get rid of the awkwardness that was hovering within the silence.

* * *

As Jason rushed down the corridors of the hospital on his second day at the hospital, he finally felt like he had achieved something. Even on his first day of working there, he had managed to reduce the waiting time for patients to see a doctor by half - four hours to two hours. There was still a long way to go but Jason felt like he was the man for the job - in fact, he knew he was the man for the job.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Miller," Megan smiled as Jason fluttered by her desk towards his office and shut the door behind him.

Whilst Jason sat down at his desk and began typing up notes for the diagnosis for one of his patients, Eve made her way into the reception area and was greeted by Megan. "Hello, how can I help you, miss?"

"I'm Eve - Jason's wife."

As soon as Eve announced who she was, Megan's smile slowly dropped to a discreet scowl as her eyes scanned Eve up and down, evaluating her appearance. "I'm sorry but Dr. Miller is busy with a patient at the moment. Can I take a message?"

"Yeah, can you just tell him that I dropped by and tell him that Marcy called about the house?" Eve said as Megan scribbled it down on a piece of paper.

"Is that everything?" Megan asked hastily.

"Yes," Eve smiled. "Thank-you."

Turning around, Eve began to walk towards the elevators. Just as Megan scrunched up the piece of paper in her hand and tossed it into the paper bin that was on the other side of her desk, Jason walked out of his office and spotted Eve.

"Eve, what are you doing here?" he laughed, catching her attention as she waited for the elevator.

"Thought I'd come see the big-shot boss in action," Eve joked as she hugged her husband.

"Come through," Jason smiled as he led his wife through to his office, passing an unamused Megan. "Come see my office."

Closing the door behind them, Jason watched as his wife looked around his executive office. "Very nice," Eve beamed, impressed by what she saw. "It's very fancy."

"I'm gonna strip it all back, sell the television and all this technical stuff that is so unnecessary, go back to basics and use the money to fund more comfort in the waiting room," Jason explained to his wife. "It's not gonna be much but it's better that the patients benefit from it rather than me. I'll hardly be in this office."

"You are amazing, aren't you?"

Jason laughed as Eve wrapped her arms around his waist. "Come on, let me show you around the hospital."

"I should be getting back. I need to sort out some books to take to the hospital tonight. Lucy seemed bored last night."

"It'll only take a few minutes," Jason persuaded.

Reluctantly, Eve followed Jason back out of his office and down the corridor, walking passed Megan again, who looked like her blood was at boiling point as she caught sight of Eve's hand within Jason's tight clutch. As they disappeared down the corridors, Megan stood up from her post at the reception desk and made her way into Jason's office, closing the door behind her. Walking across the room, Megan glanced through her blue eyes around the room and sat down down at the chair by the desk, leaning back as she admired the family portrait that stood in the middle of the desk - Jason's family portrait. Running her perfectly manicured finger across the photo frame where Jason's smile was, Megan found herself smiling back down at the photo.

"You're gonna be mine," she muttered to herself as she concentrating on Jason's face that was staring back up at her through the photo. Jabbing her finger at the photo where Eve's head rested on Jason's broad shoulder, Megan growled to herself. "You're just in the way, but you won't be in the way for long."

After placing the photo frame back down on the desk carefully so it didn't look like it had been touched, Megan leant back on the chair and sighed to herself. Rummaging through the drawers of Jason's desk, Megan found herself finding more and more things in common with Jason.

"He likes Coldplay," Megan beamed as she found an empty CD case that used to belong to a Coldplay CD. "Stereophonic too? Nice."

Just as Megan was about to put the CD case back into the drawer, the door to Jason's office opened and in walked a confused Jason and Eve. "Megan, what are you doing in here?"

"Sorry, Dr. Miller," Megan apologised instantaneously as she flung the CD case into the drawer and grabbed the stapler that was hidden beneath papers in the desk. "I couldn't find the reception desk's stapler so I came to ask if you had a stapler I could borrow and since you weren't in here, I thought I'd just borrow it quickly. I didn't think you'd mind."

"Of course not," Jason smiled. "Megan, this is my wife - Eve."

Introducing Eve to Megan, Jason smiled at her, believing every word of her lie without any hesitation.

"Megan, would you like to come to our house tonight for dinner?" Eve asked, without even consulting her husband first. "It'd be nice to get to know some of Jason's workmates."

"Tonight?"

"Tonight," Eve reaffirmed.

"I'd love to," Megan smiled, standing up from Jason's desk chair and walking across the room, brushing past Jason slightly as she opened up the door. "I'll let you get back to work, Dr. Miller."

"I'd better go too," Eve laughed, kissing Jason's cheek. "But bring Megan home with you at six."

"Will do," Jason nodded as both his receptionist and his wife left him in his office alone.

* * *

"Right, Mrs. Little, everything seems fine - we will need you to come back in next week for the results of the second lot of tests though," Jason smiled to his elderly patient that was perched on the edge of the hospital bed.

"Thank-you, Doctor," Mrs. Little said as she stood up from the bed and began to put her jacket back on. "Thank-you ever so much."

"Have you got transportation sorted to take you home, Mrs. Little?" Jason asked in a caring tone. Mrs. Little shook her head. "That's no problem. We can get you a taxi to take you straight from here to your house. If you would just like to follow me to reception and we can get that sorted for you straight away."

With the elderly woman following along behind him, Jason walked out of the ward and down the corridor towards Megan, who was sat at the reception desk, tapping away on the keyboard as she stared at the computer screen - that was until she realised Jason was heading in her direction. "Megan, would you please order a taxi at hospital expense for Mrs. Little here, please?" Nodding, Megan grabbed hold of the phone and began to dial at Jason's command. "So I'll see you next week, Mrs. Little."

Mrs. Little nodded and thanked Jason again before he disappeared back into his office to type up notes for her patient file. As soon as Jason sat down at the desk and began to tap away at the keyboard, the door to his office opened ajar and Megan slipped in through the door. Looking across the room with her eyes mentally undressing Jason, Megan lifted her hand to her shirt and began to unbutton it, caressing her skin with her fingers as she undid each button.

"Megan, what do you think you are doing?" Jason asked, confused as to what Megan was doing.

Taking no notice of Jason, Megan slowly began to run her fingers down her body, sculpturing her figure with her hands as she did so. Jason was totally thrown back over what to do. It wasn't even like he could throw Megan out of the office into the hallway - his colleagues would put two and two together and the last thing he wanted was to get reported for indecent behaviour on his second day at the job. By the time Jason was panicking, Megan had unbuttoned her crystal white blouse to reveal a black lace bra.

"You like what you see, right?" Megan sighed, biting her lip slightly as she let out a little moan.

Her hands still cradling her chest, Megan began to make her way across the office towards Jason, who had frozen in shock.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jason said, trying to push Megan off him as she began to straddle him over his office chair.

"Don't pretend you don't want it," she giggled, lowering her hands until they were dancing around the bottom of his shirt, beginning to unbuckle his belt. "I've seen the way you've been watching me. You want me so bad."

Pushing Megan away from him, Jason jumped off the office chair and backed himself in a corner away from her. "I don't know what has overcome you but really need to leave. Get your clothes back on and leave."

"But you want it."

"I certainly do not want it. I'm married."

"So?"

"I'm happily married."

"But that doesn't mean we can't have some fun," Megan winked as she began to unclasp her bra.

"Get dressed and I think it's best if you don't come to dinner tonight."

Megan reluctantly gave in and began to button her shirt back up, huffing as she did so. "You're playing hard to get," she sighed. "I get it."

"I'm not. I don't want this."

"It's okay," Megan smiled. "I'll up my game."

* * *

Arranging the ingredients in the middle of the breakfast bar, Jesse found himself singing along to the radio as Eve did her usual - singing and hip dancing. As they prepared dinner together, the soundtrack was Kim Wilde's Kids in America.

"Looking out a dirty old window, down below the cars in the city go rushing by. I sit alone and I wonder why," Eve began to sing with Jesse humming along to the verse as it was a little bit behind his time for his to know every word to it - unlike Eve, who was in her prime age when the song was flying high in the charts. "Friday night and everyone's moving. I can feel the heat but it's soothing heading down. I search for the beat in this dirty town. Down town the young ones are going. Down town the young ones are growing."

"We're the kids in America, whoa!" Eve and Jesse both sang together, laughing as they chopped and diced up the chicken. "We're the kids in America, whoa! Everybody live for the music-go-round."

Just as Eve was about to get the chance to sing her favourite verse, the front door slammed shut, interrupting the singalong that was unfolding in the kitchen. "Hello, honey," Eve smiled to her husband who walked through the door.

"Hey," Jason smiled, however he was looking like his mind was elsewhere.

"Where's Megan?" Eve asked, wiping her hands with a tea towel as she looked behind Jason to realise Megan wasn't behind him as she expected. "I thought she was coming home with you after you'd both finished work."

"Ah, yes," Jason paused, presumably to think up a suitable and flawless lie that his wife would believe without any questions. "Megan said she was ever so sorry but she had to rush off as there was an emergency at her flat."

"Oh, shame," Eve sighed. "Well, at least there's enough to go around now."

"There would have been enough," Jesse laughed, looking down at the mountain of food that needed to be prepared on the counter in front of him. "With everything we have here and in the fridge, we could feed 5,000."

"Oh, and Jesse, have you got that note for Lucy?" Jason asked as he put his suitcase on the side of the kitchen counter. "I'll pop it in to the hospital later on when I go fill the car up with petrol - sorry, gas, as you Americans say."

"Sure, I'll get it for you in a bit," Jesse smiled.

Just as Jason was about to help prepare the salad, there was a knock at the door. Jason looked at Jesse and Eve, hesitating for a few short moments before he walked out of the kitchen and towards the door.

"Sorry, I'm late," Megan beamed as she barged her way into the house as Jason opened the door slightly. "But I'm here now. I brought a bottle of wine - red, I hope that's okay with everyone."

"What are you doing here?" Jason snarled quietly as Megan handed her coat to him.

"I couldn't miss up the opportunity for dinner with my," Megan paused as her eyes slowly dropped down Jason's body. "..my boss."

Biting her lip slightly, Megan winked to Jason before making her way into the kitchen. "Megan, I thought you had an emergency at your flat?" Eve asked, surprised to see Megan stood in the doorway, holding a bottle of wine with one hand.

"Emergency at my flat?" Megan joked as Jason walked briskly into the kitchen. "Yes, the emergency at my flat is all sorted now."

You could tell Jason was tensing up as a small layer of sweat had formed at his brow as he began to grab the cutlery from the drawer. "I'll go lay the table," Jason suggested, relieved to get out of Megan's sight - even if it was for a few moments.

"So, Megan, this is Jesse - our daughter's boyfriend," Eve smiled, introducing Jesse to the stranger. "He lives with us now."

"Nice," Megan nodded, looking around the kitchen - completely uninterested by everyone in the room. "Can I use the bathroom?"

"Sure," Eve said. "Up the stairs and down the hallway. You'll see it straight away."

"Thank-you," Megan replied before she disappeared out of the room and up the stairs, keeping her eyes fixated on Jason as she took each step.

As soon as Megan reached the top of the staircase and began to make her way down the hallway, Megan realised that the door to Jason and Eve's bedroom was wide open. Glancing back down the stairs, Megan quietly slipped into their bedroom and closed the door behind her. Meanwhile, downstairs, Jesse and Eve awkwardly continued to prepare dinner, unsure of what to make of Megan's over the top persona, whereas Jason was dreading the unnerving experience that was about to unfold - the last thing he wanted was more drama for his family, especially when it was unnecessary.

* * *

"This chicken is lovely, Eve," Megan smiled as she began to devour the meal that laid in front of her. "You'll have to give me the recipe."

Eve nodded as she began to cut into her meal. Jason, who was staring with an emotionless glare at the glass of wine, continued to sit in silence. Jesse, however, was sat looking at the adults in front of him, lost in thought over what he was going to write in his letter to Lucy.

"So, Jason, how was work today?" Eve asked, cutting the awkward atmosphere with a knife.

Jason shook himself out of the silence as he replied to his wife. "It was good. Managed to cut the waiting time by another half an hour which was pretty good."

"He's completely turned the hospital around within the last few days," Megan added. "You're a very lucky woman, Eve."

"I know," Eve sniggered as she smiled across the table at Jason, who was still staring at the wine.

"I'm just gonna go get some water," Jason said, picking up the glass of wine and making his way into the kitchen.

As soon as Jason got into the kitchen, he tipped the wine carefully into the sink and filled the wine glass up with water, glugging it down as fast as he could. "Hey, what's going on?" Eve asked as she walked into the kitchen, closing the door behind her so neither Jesse nor Megan could hear what they were talking about.

"I don't know," Jason replied. "I just don't feel comfortable with her in the house. She's quite.."

"She's interesting, I'll give you that, but Jason, she's your work colleague and you need to get her on your side if you want to make that hospital a success."

Jason sighed as he reluctantly nodded his head. "Fine."

* * *

Three hours passed and Megan had finally left the house, not before making a drunken pass at a very uninterested Jason and flirting a little one-sided with another very uninterested Jesse. Jesse had retired back to Lucy's bedroom for the night to write his letter to Lucy and Eve had decided to have a long soak in the bath, leaving Jason to climb into their bed by himself. As he shuffled around the duvet in an attempt to get comfortable, he felt something poking him in his spine. Running his hand behind him into the pillows, he soon found himself clasping his fingers around some fabric. Pulling what he had found out from the pillows with his hand, Jason was shocked as he realised what it was - a black lace bra, almost identical to the one Megan showed him earlier in his office. Along with the bra was a note.

'I left you a little present to remember me by until you get the real thing tomorrow. M x'

Throwing the bra and note into his briefcase that was beneath the bed, Jason sunk back into the bed and sighed. There was no way he could explain this one to Eve without sounding guilty - he had to deal with this himself.


	10. Obsessions - Part Two

**Chapter Ten: Obsessions [Part Two]**

Snaking his way through the hustle and bustle that had erupted on the streets of Los Angeles during rush hour, Antonio was lost in his own little world - his mind overcome with a million and one thoughts. Antonio Kinksy was a proud businessman, and furthermore, a successful businessman. He had been working for the past fifteen years at head of the medics department at the city hospital and loved every second of his job - the power, the authority, the money. Ever since his wife, Marline, left him for a younger model, literally, he had thrown his life into focusing on work. His son, Johnny, was in his final year at school and wasn't that bothered about going to college or getting a job - in fact, Johnny wasn't bothered about much. Well, that was until about two months ago. That was the last time Antonio saw Johnny. Nobody had seen or heard from Johnny since then.

By the time Antonio had reached his house that was filled with an eery silence, dusk was beginning to draw in. Instead of following his usual routine of checking the answer machine for any missed messages and then heading into the kitchen to microwave his ready meal for one, Antonio pressed the answer machine and grabbed the plastic bag that was laid on the side of the sofa.

"Antonio, it's me - Kitty," a high-pitched voice giggled as the machine went through Antonio's missed calls one by one. "I just wanted to give you a quick call to say thanks for last night, it was really fun. So, um.. call me. Bye."

The machine bleeped as it moved onto the next message.

"Hello, Dr. Kinksy. I did try calling you on your cell but I couldn't get through, but I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow's 10 o'clock meeting has been swapped to Friday. Call me back as soon as you get this. Oh, it's Professor Laketon at Berkeley. Many thanks."

As the messages continued to be read out, Antonio reached his hand into the plastic bag and pulled out the contents - a thick rope. Holding the rope in his hand, he began to knot it into a noose. Staring down at the newly formed noose that he held with his fingers, he took a deep breath before he made his way back into the hallway and began walking up the stairs. With each step he took, he continued to take deep breaths - his final breaths. With one hand on the banister and the other hand holding the noose, Antonio finally reached the top of the staircase and stopped, turning around to face the staircase he had just walked up. With one swift toss, the noose fell across the side of the banister and dangled onto the first floor mezzanine. After securely fixing the rope onto the banister's railings, Antonio began to walk down the stairs and onto the first floor mezzanine. Taking one last look around the house, he stepped up onto the nearby chair and hooked the noose around his tired neck. Within seconds, the chair was kicked beneath Antonio's feet, leaving his body suspended in the air - flapping back and forth as Antonio's reflexes begged for air. A few more seconds passed as Antonio continued to fight for his life but it was too late. As the final message was read out downstairs, Antonio's body gave up - his lifeless eyes staring straight in front.

"Antonio Kinksy. It's Detective Erland. If possible, could you give me a call back or come down to the station as there has been some development on your son's disappearance case."

With the final beep sounding through the house from the answer machine, the house fell back to the usual silence - the silence that had become its soundtrack for the past two months in which Johnny had been missing.

* * *

Walking hand in hand down the path towards the church, Eve gave her husband a supportive smile as Jason stared ahead at all the mourners that had gathered outside the church.

"Jason," the senior executive boss for the hospital smiled as he held out his hand for Jason to shake as the couple approached the mourners. "So nice for you to turn up."

"Dr. Kinksy - I mean, Antonio, was a great guy. It's a shame, a real loss to the hospital," Jason replied, shaking the guy's hand as Eve looked around at the church and it's beautiful grounds.

"No it isn't," the man laughed. "The man was a total dick."

"But it doesn't justify him losing his life."

"He took his own life because he killed his son."

"He killed his son?" Jason paused in disbelief. He wasn't sure if he had misheard what had just been said to him - although he knew he hadn't misheard, he just wished he had.

"Yeah, rumour has it. The cops have closed the case. A body was found in desert lands just outside of LA," the guy continued to explain, noticing that Jason had no idea about the drama that had been unfolding in the last two weeks. "The police called saying there was some developments and Antonio must have been riddled with guilt and hung himself that night. The police didn't eve get the chance to tell him that Johnny's body had been found."

"That's awful," Eve sighed as she joined in on the conversation the anonymous man was having with her husband. "Sometimes you just don't know what goes on behind closed doors."

Jason was trying to come to terms with what he had just heard. From everybody else's point of view, he just looked like he was devastated by the news of the tragic end to Antonio Kinksy and his son, Johnny. But to Jason, he knew exactly who his son was - the monster who raped his daughter. He didn't know whether to feel guilty for his crime or to be happy that he was in the clear.

Eve wrapped her hand around her husband's waist and began to lead him into the church as the service was about to begin. As they found a seat at the back, Eve had to push Jason to sit down as he was too busy thinking about what he had been told to remember the general social convention for church services. For the entire duration of the service, Jason was lost in his own trail of thought to realise that the priest was talking or Antonio's distant relatives were exaggerating on their very few memories they had with the deceased. Even through the wake, Eve attempted to make small talk with Jason's new colleagues as he was lost in a mix of emotions over the whole situation. Nobody thought any different of it though - funerals aren't exactly a place filled with joy and happiness.

As soon as Eve and Jason returned back to their house after leaving the wake, Eve pulled her husband into the lounge and sat him down on the sofa. "What's going on with you today?" she asked, seeming concerned at his unusual behaviour. "You've been acting funny all day. At first I thought it was just awkwardness due to you being his replacement at the hospital but there's something to this, Jason. There is something to this that you're not telling me. I want you to tell me right here, right now what you're keeping from me. You promised no more secrets, so come on, tell me."

Jason hesitated for a few moments, fiddling with the bottom of his suit jacket as he looked down at the floor, refusing to give his wife any sort of eye contact. "I know I said no more secrets but that was before I realised."

"Before you realised what?" Eve asked. "Please."

"I can't."

"Tell me," Eve demanded with a stern voice and posture as she looked down at her husband.

Jason knew fine well that he had promised that there would be no more secrets between him and Eve, but there was only so much that he could let Eve know. If he told her everything, their family would be over. It wouldn't just be him that was affected - Eve and Lucy would suffer from the consequences of his dark secret too. "I didn't tell you as I didn't want Lucy to find out but, Antonio, also known as 'Dr. Kinksy' was the father of a boy called Johnny."

"Yeah, and?" Eve asked, sitting beside her husband as he began to open up - she really didn't see the relevance of Antonio's son to why Jason had been in such a peculiar mood all day.

"Johnny was the one who did that to Lucy," Jason blurted out after a few moments of silent contemplation with himself over how he should approach it. "He was the one who raped her."

"Why didn't you tell the police this?" Eve asked, struggling to deal with what Jason had told her. "You could have made justice happen for our little girl. How could you keep something like this to yourself?"

"It wasn't easy," Jason argued. "Do you think I was proud of keeping it to myself? You know yourself how much Lucy was struggling with everything that happened, do you really think dragging it all out into a court case and trial with her as a witness, reliving that moment, would have helped the situation anymore? I know it was a stupid idea, but I had my reasons."

"But he's dead now," Eve paused. Jason gulped as he realised how easy Eve could have clocked on to the rest of the secret - the secret he planned to never tell anybody. "Antonio must have found out about what Johnny did to Lucy and killed him before killing himself."

A sigh of relief escaped from Jason's closed mouth. "Yeah," Jason interluded. "I suppose justice has been served in some sort of way."

* * *

Slipping two fingers into the top of his tie, Jason pulled it away from his body, loosening the knot as he sat down in his office chair at the hospital. Glancing around his office, he still couldn't get his mind off the whole Antonio and Johnny scenario. Before the funeral yesterday, Jason felt no guilt for what he did - that boy, monster, raped his little girl; that monster was the reason his little girl tried to commit suicide. But now, Jason was racked with guilt over what he did. If he didn't kill Johnny, Antonio would still be alive. Eve had automatically jumped to the conclusion that Antonio had found out about Johnny's involvement in Lucy's rape and killed him himself, just as the police had concluded - meaning Jason was out of the clear but that didn't help his guilty conscious.

"Dr. Miller," Megan smiled as she barged into the room, disturbing Jason's mental guilt. "Would you be able to sign these prescriptions?"

"Ah, yes," Jason nodded, taking his attention back to his job. "Just leave them on my desk and I'll sign them by the end of the day."

Megan paused as she placed the prescriptions on the edge of Jason's desk and slowly moved them closer towards him with her finger. Curling the edges of her lips, she began to make her way around the desk, stopping just centimetres away from Jason as he continued to pretend like he was concentrating on the paperwork he had to complete by the end of his shift. "Those prescriptions aren't the only thing that need attention round here," she whispered, slowly unbuttoning her blouse.

"Megan, look. You are a lovely girl, truly, but I'm not interested in you. I have a beautiful wife who I love dearly and makes me more than happy. I just think you're wasting your time with me when you could be finding somebody who is really interested in you."

Looking devastated, Megan turned around, wrapping her shirt back closed as she felt humiliated. "You can't be that happy with her if you spend all your time in the hospital."

"I've been at this job for two weeks now," Jason paused. "How can you expect me to just go gallivanting away whenever I feel like it?" Jason took another pause, taking a breath as he looked up at Megan from the desk. "I'm sorry, Megan. I've tried to let your advances pass me but I've had enough. Your unprofessionalism is not acceptable. I'm going to have to let you go."

"Are you firing me?" Megan asked, sniggering slightly as she looked down at Jason - her eyes slowly filling with rage as she realised the seriousness in Jason's facial expressions. "You can't fire me. I'll just tell HR that you were coming onto me too. I can say you were harassing me."

"They won't believe you," Jason argued, standing up from his desk as if to walk towards the door to show Megan out of his office.

Before Jason had chance to reach the door, Megan grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him towards her, backing him up against the wall so he couldn't move away from her grasp. "You really think they won't believe me?" Megan laughed. "Who do you think they're likely to believe? An ex-alcoholic with an underaged pregnant daughter that is locked up in some psycho ward or the innocent little receptionist who graduated Harvard?"

"Megan, let go of me."

"No," Megan retaliated as she pressed her body weight against Jason even more, making him fight back even harder than before. "You know you want me. It's only a matter of time before you give into the temptation. They all come begging for it - it's a matter of biology. You men are all the same. You just want one thing. Why won't you take it?"

"Megan, this is the final warning. Let me go or I'll report you to the police."

"Fine," she laughed, letting go of Jason. "Jesus, I was only messing around."

"Now, get out of this hospital before I call security," Jason ordered, pointing firmly at the door.

Reluctantly, Megan turned around and followed Jason's instructions. Slamming the door behind her, she stormed down the corridor, letting all the patients and doctors in the corridor know what she was on a warpath by tipping up empty chairs that were dotted down the lengthy corridor and barging into anyone and everyone. As Megan made her way out of the hospital for the last time, Jason picked up the phone and began to dial the security of the hospital.

"Yes, it's Dr. Miller - room 432. I just wanted to let you know that Megan Holmes is on her way out of the hospital and I'd like you to keep her off the premises if she tries to return. Thanks," Jason said before putting the phone back down on its receiver and sitting down in his chair, sighing to himself as he continued to look around the office, wondering what sort of mess he had got himself in.

"Maybe the job at the gas station wasn't so bad after all," he laughed to himself, trying to make light of the situation.

* * *

As rush hour was beginning to peak in the city of Los Angeles, Eve was in her element as she fluttered around the salon that was bursting full of teenage girls that were all getting ready for their school prom. Although it was killing Eve knowing that she should have been helping her own daughter get ready for her own prom, Eve was happy enough to know that her daughter was making progress in the hospital - especially with therapy.

Letting a strand of hair fall onto the girl's shoulders as she continued to curl it, just like the girl had requested, Eve smiled to herself as she looked across the salon at her staff who were all completing their allocated jobs. She knew herself that the salon had become a huge success and she couldn't have asked for more from her business in just the three months that it had been opened. It was thriving daily with customers - her customers.

"Kelly, are you sure you're okay to stay on another hour or so?" Eve asked one of her beauticians as she carried on curling her customer's hair, looking over at Kelly, who was busy painting another girl's nails with a hot pink colour. "You can go after you've finished that if you need to. I'm sure we'll be able to manage."

"It's fine, thanks, Eve," Kelly smiled. "Childminder doesn't need me to pick Kyle up until 9pm so I can stay as long as you need me - plus, truth be told, I could really do with the extra money."

"That's fine then," Eve nodded before she quickly glanced over at her other beauticians, making sure they were coping with each of their individual tasks.

Once satisfied that the salon's workings were all running as smoothly as they possibly could given the high demand, Eve continued to concentrate on perfecting her current customer's hair. As Eve was busy in high concentration, the door to the salon opened and in walked a young woman with brunette hair.

"Hey, have you got an appointment?" Kelly asked as she dealt with the new customer, still painting one of the many girls' nails.

"I'm here to see Eve," a familiar voice.

With hearing the mention of her name, Eve looked up from her work and realised who was asking after her. "Megan," she smiled, unaware of Megan's actually intentions with her husband. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Sorry for popping in like this - I can see you're busy," Megan paused, hoping Eve would stop her from leaving.

"It's fine," Eve smiled. "What is it you wanted?"

"Well, I was just driving through the area home and remembered I forgot to give this envelope to Jason after my shift finished and I remembered he mentioned you owned this salon so I was hoping I could leave this with you for you to pass onto him?"

Eve nodded. "Of course," she replied. "My bag is back through there. Just pop it in and I'll give it to him later on."

"Thank-you," Megan smiled before she set off in the direction that Eve had nodded in, carrying the envelope in her hands - unbeknown to Eve that it just contained a blank sheet of paper.

As Megan slipped the envelope into Eve's bag, she noticed something that was laid inside the handbag. Quickly glimpsing over her shoulder to make sure nobody was looking in her direction, Megan reached into the bag and grabbed hold of the keys that were left in full view. Shoving them into the pocket of her jacket, Megan began to make her way back into the main room of the salon and after a quick goodbye and thank-you to Eve, left.

* * *

Collapsing onto the sofa with a can of beer in one hand and a newspaper in the other, Jason took a deep sigh - so loud it overtook the volume of the television set that was playing away to itself in the corner. As Jason began to relax, flicking through the paper even though he wasn't paying a blind bit of attention to it, the darkened room was beginning to light up with the security light that was streaming in through the gaps in the curtains. Confused, Jason got up from the sofa with the newspaper still in his hand and walked across to the curtains, pulling them aside slightly as he peered through into the garden. It's fluffy tail in the air as it prowled along the patio and down the grass into the bottom of the garden, Tabby, Lucy's cat, purred into the darkness. Sighing to himself, he went back to his original spot on the sofa and began to read the newspaper properly.

An hour or so passed and the television continued to play away to itself as Jason fell asleep on the sofa, still clutching hold of the newspaper. The grandfather clock, that once belonged to Elizabeth and stood proudly in the hallway beside the staircase, stuck ten o'clock. There was still no sign of Eve at all. In the kitchen, the door that led into the garden slowly opened and stiletto footsteps made their way into the hallway, carefully making sure that they didn't make a sound.

Wearing a khaki mack that draped down passed her long legs and fell to her knees, Megan had a huge smile across her face as she noticed Jason asleep on the sofa. Without making any sound at all, Megan pulled the sliding doors behind her, closing off the lounge from the rest of the house. Stepping around the sofa, Megan switched off the television set that left the whole house in an eery silence. As she slowly untied her coat, revealing her naked body beneath it, Jason slowly began to stir from his sleep. His eyes widened as he realised Megan was stood in front of him, wearing nothing but a smile and a sweet scent of perfume.

"Hello," she giggled, winking at Jason as she floated across towards him and began to straddle him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jason shouted, trying to push her body from on top of him but it was no use as her timid weight had multiplied with force. "How the hell did you get in here? I'll call the police."

"Why are you trying to do this, Jason?" Megan asked, slowly pecking her soft lips against Jason's neck as her kiss travelled down to the top of his buttoned shirt. "You know you want it. You want it so bad. Ever since your first day at the hospital - the way you looked at me, the way you spoke to me, the way you acted around me. I know you. You want me so bad."

Eventually, Jason managed to push Megan's weight off of him, causing her to fall into the coffee table - banging her head as she fell. Jumping up from the sofa, Jason rushed across to the telephone that sat in the corner of the room and began to dial '911', arming himself with a nearby candlestick to warn Megan away from him. "Police. There's an intruder in my house - 939 Berro Drive. Come quick."

"The police won't keep us away from each other," Megan laughed as she perched herself on the arm of the sofa, displaying everything to Jason as he tried to look in the opposite direction, praying the police would hurry up and save him from the devil's hold. "Fate has a funny way of making things happen. If two people belong together, they will be together - we'll be together, Jason. You and I. Forever."

"Megan, it doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter. You can go to my wife and tell her all your crazy lies but none of it will matter. Nothing will ever happen between us. I really mean that - ever," Jason began to explain, trying to put it in a way with a tone of voice that would make sure it would get through to Megan as he had tried everything else. "There is no us. There is no you and me. There never has been and there never will be. I don't know how many times I have to tell you this but I'm not interested. I'm not playing hard to get or acting like I'm playing hard to get - I'm just not interested in you. You're just some psycho little girl who needs help."

"What? Like your daughter? Poor little Lucy - that's her name, isn't it?" Megan asked, putting her legs together and placed her hands on top of them in an elegant position as she looked across at Jason with her lingering eyes. "Knocked up in a broken family. She's lost in the world and there's no saving her. It's sad that not even her own parents want to help her. They don't want anything else to do with her so they've shipped her off to some mental asylum to keep her out of the way and carried on living their lives like they have no children at all. But she isn't your only child, is she?"

"You seriously need help, Megan," Jason said, taking a deep breath as he restrained himself from throwing the candlestick that he had in his hand at her.

"I do need help," she giggled. "I need your help, Doctor."

Without any warning, Megan pounced in Jason's direction - her hands grasping around his neck as she clung onto him. Trying to fight her off him as she began to dig her long nails into his neck, drawing blood, Jason called for help but, again, it was no use - there was no use as the entire house was empty. "Help!"

"I've got you now, baby!" Megan cackled, wrapping her legs around Jason's waist as he dropped the candlestick, causing it to make an echoing bang as it hit the wooden floor. "There's no need for you to call for help. I got you. I got you forever. I got you and you got me."

Turning to his last resort, Jason took a deep breath as he tried to deal with the pain Megan was causing him as her nails continued to dig into his neck, piercing the skin as if it was a thin sheet of plastic. "You're right. Okay, I'm sorry," Jason pleaded. "You're so right. I do love you. You make me so crazy. You're beautiful, but it just isn't right."

Letting go of Jason's neck, Megan fell back onto the sofa with a huge grin on her face as she hung on Jason's every word. "Really?"

Jason nodded, trying to hide the fear in his face as he held out his hand for Megan to take. "You have to understand how hard it has been for me though. Working with you every day has been so hard for me. I mean, I've wanted you from the moment I saw you. All those advances you threw at me, the opportunities I wasted.. And all this business with Lucy, it wouldn't be fair to leave Eve yet. I had to wait. I couldn't give into my temptations until I knew that Lucy would be okay."

"I understand," Megan beamed, believing every lie that fell from Jason's lips. "But we can be together. Forever."

"We can," Jason smiled.

"Right now. Let's do it."

"Do what?" Jason asked.

"Back when I was in high school, we studied this play for English Literature," Megan began with a smile across her face as she took hold of Jason's trembling hand and led him into the kitchen. "It was about this man and woman - society forbid them from being together, even though they both loved one another so much. They loved each other so much that they decided the only way they could both be together was for them both to die."

"Romeo and Juliet?" Jason paused as sweat formed at his brow.

Megan nodded. "We can be Romeo and Juliet, Jason. We are Romeo and Juliet. We can be together forever. Nobody can stop us."

Jason's hand quivered as he watched Megan grab a knife from his wife's knife rack and passed it across the breakfast bar in his direction. Waiting for Jason to take hold of the knife from her clutch, Megan flashed a smile at him. "I love you."

As Jason reluctantly took hold of the knife, Megan took another from the rack and placed it in her own hand, holding it to her neck. "One swift slice across the throat and all this will be over," she explained. "We can be together and nobody will be able to get in the way of that."

Jason nodded as he looked down at the knife in his hand and then back across at Megan as she held the knife with a firm grip. Jason noticed that there was something about Megan as he looked at her. She seemed willing. She was determined to see this through. There was nothing Jason could do to stop her from doing this. The only thing he had to do now was to find a way of not killing himself in the process. He couldn't do that to Eve. He couldn't do that to Lucy. He couldn't leave his family and the hospital after everything he had fought through. He didn't want to die. He didn't want any of this. The only thing Jason wanted was for him to have a normal, happy life for him and his family - but after everything that had gone off in the past few months, that dream was seeming to become further and further from a reality.

"Are you ready?" Megan asked with a smile. Jason took a deep breath and nodded with hesitation. "Together. Forever."

Jason nodded again in a hypnotic daze as he noticed Eve was stood in the doorway to the kitchen, out of sight from Megan.

With one swift slice, as Megan instructed, the skin of her throat was sliced into two. Blood began oozing from the wound as Megan smiled at Jason. Jason placed the unused knife down onto the breakfast bar from his hand and stood back. By the time Megan realised it was too late and Jason had tricked her, a waterfall of red was dripping from her throat as her body fell to the ground - her dead legs collapsing beneath her tiny frame. Her hands began to claw at the floor as she struggled for breath but it was too late.

Eve lunged into the kitchen towards her husband and threw her arms around his quaking body as they both stared down at the floor - Megan's lifeless corpse now lying in a pool of blood that continued to drain from her naked body.

"I.. I.. I'm sorry," Jason sobbed as he clutched onto his wife.

"It's okay," Eve hushed, comforting him as she continued to hold onto him. "I knew something was wrong as soon as I noticed my keys were missing."

Suddenly, the sound of roaring sirens erupted through the house, breaking the silence. Barging at the door, the police stormed into the house and raided each room until they reached the kitchen. Halting at the door, all the officers looked down at the floor to see Megan's crumpled body lying on the floor surrounded by blood. Two officers ushered Eve and Jason into the hallway as the rest of the police officers dealt with Megan's body - announcing her dead and ruling the death as a suicide before they called for paramedics to come and take the body away.

Standing in the hallway, in front of the staircase, watching as the paramedics zipped up the body bag in which Megan's body laid, Eve and Jason sighed. "There's no escaping her now," a voice said from the top of the stairs.

Turning around, Eve and Jason were both surprised to see Moira looking back down at them. "What do you mean?" Eve asked.

"While the house is here, all the tragedies that happen here will remain here."

Moira disappeared back up the stairs, leaving the couple to stand in thought at her confusing riddle.


	11. Killing The Monster Inside

**Chapter Eleven: Killing The Monster Inside**

Rearranging the papers that were scattered all over the classroom table, Nathan looked across the room to see his teacher, Mr. Austin, smiling back at him, watching his every move. Nathan was supposed to be on his way home to his family house not far from his school, but Mr. Austin had asked him to stay behind and help organise the classroom's display for the harvest festival - Nathan, being the helpful eleven year old that he was, couldn't say no.

Scattering the leaves on the table that he had collected from the playground, Nathan grabbed the pot of glue and began smearing it on the paper, sorting the leaves into an array of colours on the sheets.

"Sir, would I be able to go to the office and ring my mum, please?" Nathan asked as he finished the first sheet of leaves and placed the lid back on the glue pot. "I don't want her to worry about me. She won't let me walk to school by myself again."

"Don't worry. I rang her for you," Mr. Austin replied instantaneously. "She said not to worry about getting home before seven as she understands that you're helping me."

"Oh," Nathan smiled as he returned back to his work. "Thank-you."

Sticking a red leaf beside an orange leaf, Nathan found himself getting lost in his art work - something he usually did as he loved being creative. It was only the other weekend that Nathan spent the entire day building a pink toy box for his younger sister with his dad in their garage. When Nathan grew up, he wanted to be in the movie industry, drawing animated movies. His mum always used to tell him that he had a true gift with drawing.

"Nathan, I'm just going to get some.. equipment from the staff room. I shan't be too long."

As soon as Mr. Austin disappeared out of the classroom, Nathan began humming songs to himself. His mum's obsession with the 1980s music had began to rub off on him as he loved humming Michael Jackson songs to himself - she had even started to get him into Lionel Richie too.

Walking down the corridor in the direction of the staff room, Mr. Austin's steps picked up a pace into such a speed that it was like he was running from something - or for something. Nathan couldn't pick it up but there was something very suspicious about his teacher. Mr. Austin was young for a teacher - no older than thirty. His slicked back brown hair was complimented with a pair of black square glasses that were always found resting on the bridge of his nose. To the usual person, Mr. Austin just resembled a hipster style teacher, but the way he looked at his young students - especially the boys - was enough to make anyone's blood crawl.

Carrying a shovel back to the classroom, Mr. Austin had a look of determination in his eyes. He knew what he was going to do. He knew when he was going to do it. He knew how he was going to do it. He just didn't know where he was going to do it.

"Mr. Austin, I've finished the leaves," Nathan smiled, holding up the finished sheets that were filled full of colourful Autumn leaves for his teacher to inspect as he walked through the door and back into the classroom. "What else is needed to be done?"

Mr. Austin nodded as he placed the shovel on the carpet at the front of the classroom before walking over to stand beside Nathan. "Very good work here, Nathan. Now, we need to go get some twigs from the forest to use as the harvest table decorations. Do you think you can help me with that or do you want to go home?"

"I'll come help you," Nathan smiled, grabbing his coat from the chair and throwing both his arms into it as he chucked it over his little body. "I love the forest. My mum doesn't let me go in it at night though as she says it'd scare me."

"Don't worry," Mr. Austin reassured as he collect the shovel from the floor. "I'll be there with you."

"Why do you need that?" Nathan asked in confusion as he looked at the shovel that was in Mr. Austin's hands.

"Some twigs are harder to get out the ground," Mr. Austin replied, trying to hide the fact that he didn't actually need twigs.

"Oh," Nathan smiled, satisfied by his favourite teacher's lie. "I thought twigs fell from the trees onto the ground though."

"Yes, they do," Mr. Austin answered, getting slightly agitated by Nathan's suspicion. "But, you see, sometimes the bigger twigs fall onto the ground and get buried by other twigs and dirt so we need to use the shovel to get rid of all the other stuff so we can get the big twigs as Mrs. Hallie wants a range of sticks to use for the table in assembly next week."

"Okay," Nathan grinned. "Let's go!"

Venturing further into the forest, treading over the fallen branches that laid on the path, hiding the legitimate way through the snaking trees, Nathan followed his teacher as the forest began to get darker with the Autumn night soon drawing in. The moonlight that once guided their way was soon disappearing as the treetops sheltered them from any source of light.

"Mr. Austin," Nathan called - his voice sounding tinny as he began to panic in the darkness. "I think we shouldn't be this deep in the forest. I think we should go back to the school."

Instead of receiving a reply from his teacher, Nathan was left in a deathly silence in the darkened wilderness. As quick as he could, Nathan turned around and tried to find his way back out of the forest. His breath getting heavier and heavier as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. In the distance, a dog howled and birds continued to coo away, high above his head as he continued to run to safety. All of a sudden, Nathan found himself flying through the air and hitting his head on a nearby tree as he tripped on a twig that laid on the ground.

"Help!" Nathan cried, holding his head as blood began to trickle down his pale face. "Mummy."

Footsteps sounded as they began to make their way across the fallen leaves that crunched beneath the silhouette's feet.

"Mr. Austin," Nathan pleaded. "Please help me. I fell. I'm scared. I just want to go home."

Nathan, again, received no answer.

The footsteps stopped in front of Nathan.

Nathan looked up through teary eyes and saw a figure stood just centimetres away from where he laid on the floor. A beam of moonlight flooded through the tree branches and struck the figure on their side, revealing their identity - it was Mr. Austin.

"Mummy!" Nathan screamed as Mr. Austin launched the shovel above his head and then back down on the boy's body, shattering his bones beneath it's hit.

Nathan continued to scream in agony for his mother as Arnold Austin, a sadist paedophile, continued to murder him. After ten hard strikes, Nathan's body gave up and fell back in a bloody mess. He was gone.

* * *

In a room that overlooked the grounds of the hospital, Lucy was sat on a sofa, holding onto a teddy bear with both of her hands as she looked across at her therapist. Her therapist was the stereotypical therapist - dressed in a fine pastel skirt suit with matching stilettos and her hair pinned up so perfectly that there wasn't a strand out of place.

"Tell me about your brother, Lucy."

Lucy hesitated for a moment as she looked out of the window before looking back at her therapist. "He was the best big brother any girl could wish for. He was always there for me. He would always pick me up when I fell over. He would always play with me when I was bored. He would always make me laugh when I was sad. He would always look after me when I was ill. He was my big brother. He was my best friend. He was my world."

"Tell me about what happened to him," the therapist smiled sympathetically as she sat with her knees slightly crossed on the chair opposite to where Lucy was sat.

"He was born in London, England on 1st January 1991. He loved being an only child until mum fell pregnant with me. He hated me at first but then grew to love me. He was a great football player and an amazing drawer - mum thought he would go to art school and become an artist, but he wanted to be an animator. He won the spelling bee in year two. He won a swimming competition in year three."

"Not about that stuff, Lucy," the therapist said, interrupting Lucy. "Tell me about the bad stuff."

Lucy looked at her with hesitation in her eyes. You could tell just by the glint in her eyes as she looked at her therapist that she didn't want to go there. "Why do I have to tell you about the bad stuff? Why can't I just tell you about the good stuff?"

"Because I don't care about the good stuff. The good stuff isn't what's making you ill."

"I was five years old," Lucy said, reluctantly giving in to the therapist's demanding requests. "He was six years older than me - although he was still a baby himself, he was my big brother and I thought the world of him."

"What happened to him, Lucy?"

Lucy looked down at her hands as she intertwined her fingers together, unsure of whether she should say. "He died."

"How did he die, Lucy?"

"He got murdered. I was too young to understand. Mum and dad just told me that heaven needed their angel back but he would always be looking down on me, watching out for me." A lump formed at the back of Lucy's throat as she began to explain. "His teacher was a paedophile, only at the time, nobody knew. One night he asked my brother, Nathan, to stay behind after class and help him with a display in the classroom." Taking a gulp of air, Lucy fought back the tears as she continued. "That monster took my big brother and murdered him. He left his body in the woods behind my school to rot. He stole my big brother from me and he stole my parents' son from them."

The therapist was sat on her chair, scribbling down notes on her pristine notepad that was propped up on her knee as she nodded her head.

"But nobody cared," Lucy added. "To the police, he was just another name for them to file into their system. To the undertakers, he was just a little body they had to make a smaller coffin for. To the school, he was an excuse to plant a memorial tree in the garden."

Lucy stood up from the chair and made her way towards the door on the other side of the therapist room that led out to the corridor. "Where do you think you're going?" the therapist called after her in an authoritative tone.

Lucy turned around to face her therapist and smiled. "Nowhere. I'm going nowhere." And with that, she opened the door and walked into the corridor in the direction of her room.

* * *

Placing her bag at the end of Lucy's bed, Eve smiled to her daughter, who was sat on the bed reading a Harry Potter book. "You're looking much better this week," she beamed, noticing how the rosiness in her daughter's cheeks was slowly making its comeback.

"The break is doing me a world of good though," Lucy smiled back to her mother. "I miss home though."

"You'll be back soon enough," Eve said, making sure Lucy was comfortable by fluffing up the pillows that rested behind her daughter's head. "Just focus on you getting better. That's all that matters now."

Lucy broke a smile as she looked back up from her book that she had been engrossed in for the past two weeks. There wasn't much to do around her entertainment wise - that is, unless, you think watching old people do aerobics on the grass outside is entertaining. Lucy had found herself being occupied by anything and everything. It was the only way she could keep what little sanity she had left. The therapy sessions were working but the main thing that was helping Lucy to get better was the thought of moving back into her home with her baby - hers and Jesse's baby.

"I brought you some clothes," Eve smiled, emptying out the contents of her bag onto the foot of the bed. "I remembered last time I was here you said you were getting a bit cold at night so I brought you a jumper."

Eve threw the striped jumper in Lucy's direction. Putting the book down on the bedside table that stood beside her bed that was covered in medication boxes, Lucy took hold of the jumper and held it to her chest. "It's Tate's."

"What?" Eve asked as she put away a stack of clothes into the wardrobe at the side of the room.

"Nothing."

Holding the jumper to her chest, she took a deep breath and inhaled Tate's scent that was still lingering on the jumper's fibres. Closing her eyes, she imagined Tate was there with her - sitting by her side, telling her everything was going to be alright. No matter how hard she tried to forget him, she couldn't - he saved her life at the end of the day.

"Oh, and Jesse wrote this letter for you," Eve smiled, handing an envelope to her daughter.

As soon as Lucy got hold of the envelope, she shoved it beneath her pillow. "Thanks."

"Aren't you going to read it?" Eve asked.

"I will later," Lucy smiled.

* * *

The moment Eve had left and Lucy remained in her room at the hospital by herself, Lucy slipped her hand beneath her pillow and grabbed the envelope from Jesse. Holding it in her hand, she smiled as she looked at the lettering on the front - 'Lucy'.

"_Can you please hurry up and get your ass back home, Lucy? I miss you_," the letter read. "_I'm genuinely going crazy in this house without you - your mom and dad are lovely, but by God, they do know how to annoy me with your mom's constant playing of 1980s hits and your dad's love of Coldplay. I hope there's an empty bed at that hospital you're in as I might be needing it soon._"

Lucy laughed to herself as she imagined living back at home - Jesse described it exactly as it was.

"_Your mom also tells me you're getting better and there's chance you'll be back home before you have the baby. I can't wait to see you. I told you I'd be waiting right here for when you got back and I'm keeping to that promise. I'm so proud of you for being this strong and I can't wait to have you back in my arms. I love you. Jx._"

Folding the piece of paper back up and sliding it back into the ripped envelope, Lucy grinned to herself. She couldn't wait to get back to the house.

* * *

Walking through the car park towards the entrance of the address which Eve had given them, Summer and Crystal both remained in silence - just like the entire journey to the hospital. They hadn't seen Lucy in ages. Eve had suggested to them that they go to visit Lucy but they were a little hesitant at first. Ever since Lucy got admitted to hospital, their worlds had turned around completely.

"Shall we tell her?" Crystal asked, breaking the silence as they began to walk up the steps and through the glass doors at the front of the building.

"We can't," Summer insisted. "You know what it's done to us by knowing about it. We can't put Lucy through that, especially how she's just recovering now. Telling her this will throw all that out of the window and all these weeks will have been for nothing."

"But she has a right to know," Crystal sighed as they walked towards the reception desk.

"Drop it, Crystal," Summer paused as they reached the counter.

"How can I help you?" the smug receptionist smiled.

"We're here to visit Lucy Miller," Summer replied to the receptionist, handing over the details for Lucy. "Her mother said we could come visit her as she's been given the all-clear from her therapist and treatment director."

"Ah, bear with me one moment," the receptionist paused before disappearing through a set of doors behind the reception desk and leaving the two girls alone in the entrance lobby.

Crystal looked at Summer for a few moments before turning away to look around the hospital. It was so clean and posh - the complete opposite of what Crystal imagined when she thought of a hospital for mental patients. But Crystal did only think of a run-down torture hospital when she thought of mental hospitals due to the amount of horror films she had watched over the years with friends.

"I want to tell Lucy," Summer whispered. "I know she has the right to know, but we can't. We don't know how Lucy will react and we can't risk it. You know everything she tried to do before. I mean, she tried to kill herself. We can't do it."

"Okay," Crystal nodded in agreement. "We'll tell her when she's better." Summer nodded in a hasty manner - for her, the sooner the topic was dropped, the better it would be for everyone. "I miss her, Summer. I really miss her."

"Me too."

* * *

Pulling down her dress, Sophie grinned to herself as she watched Tate get dressed in front of her. As he pulled his shirt back on, he looked down at Sophie, who was laying on Lucy's bed with a huge smile across her face - resembling a Cheshire cat. This wasn't the first time they had slept together behind Lucy's back. It wasn't even the second time. Their affair had been ongoing for three weeks now - three weeks of arranging little rendezvous in the middle of the day when Lucy was asleep or in the middle of the night when Lucy would be out at a party. The meeting place always seemed to be at Lucy's house for some reason. Sophie didn't have the heart to ask Tate why they always had to spend time together at his girlfriend's house. The thrill of getting caught made it ever so exciting for her. She found herself falling in love with Tate but there was nothing she could do to tear him and Lucy apart. Right now, Tate was the only thing that was keeping Lucy from killing herself - she knew that and Tate knew that.

"I wish you weren't with Lucy," Sophie paused as she readjusted the strap on her dress. "Things would be so much easier."

"Why?" Tate asked. "I don't love you."

"What?" Sophie asked, shocked by Tate's revelation.

"You thought I loved you?" Tate laughed, quite amused by the whole situation. "No. I'm not in love with you. Yeah, I like you. You're a good friend to Lucy. But I don't love you. I never will love you. This isn't love."

"But this.. this.. why are we doing this if you don't love me?"

"Well, I can't even go near Lucy after what happened the other week - every time I go to touch her she freezes," Tate began to explain, showing the same emotion as he did every time Lucy's name was mentioned - hurt.

"So, you're just using me?" Sophie asked.

Tate nodded without any sign of emotion at all as he looked across the room to Sophie.

You could tell just by the look on Sophie's face that she was devastated. The glance in her eye that she gave Tate as she pulled herself up off Lucy's bed said everything - she was heartbroken. After stumbling around the room to get her shoes back on, Sophie stormed out of the room, down the corridor and followed the staircase down to the ground floor, making her way out of the house. By the time she reached the gate, floods of tears were appearing in her eyes. She didn't care if Lucy caught her leaving. She didn't care who saw her cry. She didn't care.

Walking down the street towards her own house, Sophie continued to sob to herself. Throughout her life, nobody had accepted Sophie for who she was. To get friends, she had to pretend to be somebody she wasn't - a rich girl who was confident about every aspect of herself. There was no use in even pretending to be somebody she wasn't for her parents to even notice her. She had tried everything to get the acceptance from her parents that she had wished and dreamed for since she could remember but it was no use - nothing would work. Her parents knew she was a mistake - an unplanned pregnancy. Her mother, Natalie, used to wish to be a world renowned actress who would take Hollywood by storm. Her father, Bruce, used to wish to be a world renowned actor who would take Hollywood by storm. That was, until they had a drunken one night stand after an open audition and Natalie fell pregnant. From the moment that Sophie was born, both Natalie and Bruce resented her. To them, Sophie had ruined their chances of living out their dreams. Nothing that Sophie could do could change the way that her parents felt about her. That was the one thing that Sophie wanted - her parents to love her like every other one of her friend's parents loved her. Since she couldn't have her dream, Sophie turned to materialism. The latest phone, she had to have it. The latest fashion trends, she had to have it. The latest perfume from Victoria's Secret, she already had it. The latest make-up, she definitely had to have it. Having the perfect outer appearance made it easier for Sophie to convince people that she was content with her life. When, truth be told, Sophie was sad. The more she pretended to be happier, the more that she was feeling alone and unloved.

As soon as she got home, she ran upstairs to the family bathroom and locked the door behind her. Grabbing a razor from the bathroom cupboard, she began to hack away at her wrists. Blood poured from her skinny wrists and fell onto the bathroom tiles on the floor. With each strike of the razor, Sophie found herself getting weaker and weaker but she continued. Each time, more blood came gushing out from her veins. Minutes went by and she still hacked away at her wrists until they were both just bloody messes. With one final slice of the razor, Sophie fell to the floor and laid on the floor, crying as the blood continued to ooze from her wrists onto the white pristine tiles. It was over. All the pain with her parents and Tate over.

* * *

Sitting on a bench with the breeze blowing through her hair, Lucy looked out at the gardens of the hospital with a smile on her face. Cradling her baby bump, she began to hum lullaby songs to herself and her unborn baby, softly stroking her ever-growing stomach in a circle formation with her hand. "Hush little baby, don't say a word," she mumbled quietly. "Mommas gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird won't sing, mommas gonna buy you a diamond ring."

Out of nowhere, a voice began to carry on singing along with Lucy as footsteps walked down the balcony area towards where Lucy was sat by herself on the bench. "And if that diamond ring turns brass, mommas gonna buy you a looking glass."

Looking up in surprise, Lucy smiled to realise Summer and Crystal were stood in front of her, looking back down at her with huge grins on their faces - the first time they had seen Lucy in months.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked, heaving herself up off the bench and wrapping her arms tightly around them as they had a group hug. "Let me guess, you both think you're going mad from all the finals preparation so you came to see me to see what a mad person looks like in the hope that it's not as bad as it seems."

"Your mom said you could have visitors now so we thought we'd come see how you were doing," Summer smiled, completely ignoring Lucy's attempt at joking about the situation.

"How've you been?" Crystal asked, sympathetically, unsure of how to act with Lucy.

"Getting better," Lucy smiled as Summer and Crystal sat beside her on the bench. "I could be able to come home soon."

"That's good then," Crystal nodded, looking out at the gardens. "This place is beautiful."

"It's alright, I guess," Lucy sighed, resuming her previous position of patting her baby bump. "How's school?"

"Boring," Summer replied.

"Lucy, what's it like?" Crystal asked.

"What's what like?"

"Being.."

"Insane?" Lucy laughed.

"Well, yeah," Crystal replied.

Lucy took a deep breath as she stared out at the horizon of trees. "You see, the hardest thing is to kill the monster that is inside of you without killing yourself in the process," Lucy began, looking like she hadn't really comprehended what had just been said to her. "Some people deal with the pain and the anguish and manage to kill the monster - some people like me. But some people can't and kill themselves in the hope that the pain goes away."

Crystal and Summer looked at each other in confusion as Lucy continued to stare at the scenery. You could tell just by the looks on both of their faces that they thought Lucy was still in a mental state.

"Don't look at each other like that," Lucy smiled as she turned back to look at her friends. "I'm not insane anymore. It's the truth. And, if you really think about it, it makes sense. I mean, I tried to kill the monster in me by killing myself, but I managed to get help before I succeeded. I was weak and unable to hide it in the end. Some people can cope, others can't. The monster decides."

"Monster?" Summer asked.

"Ever since I can remember, there was this thing - this monster inside of my head, telling me things, making me feel things that weren't really there. It made me insane. Nobody else could see it and nobody else could hear it because it was in my body - it was part of me. When everyone else was giving me reasons to stay alive, the monster was giving me reasons to kill myself. It was a constant battle between my mind and my body. The ongoing war with the monster and yourself means there can only be one winner at the end of it and sometimes things don't work out for the best. I'm one of the lucky ones. I managed to get help before the monster won. I got back-up."

As Summer and Crystal both listened intensely to every word Lucy had to say, they both couldn't help but think of Sophie. Both of them racked up with guilt for not noticing one of their best friends was suffering - the second friend to suffer in silence.

"Hey, feel this," Lucy smiled as she grabbed hold of her best friend's hand and held them both to her baby bump.

"What is that?" Summer grinned, feeling the baby kick as she noticed her friend was pregnant.

"My baby," Lucy beamed. "Yeah, I kind of - Well, I sorta.. I forgot to tell you about that part."

"Is that the monster?" Crystal asked, shocked.

"Don't be stupid," Lucy laughed. "Well, actually, I hope not. Mum says I was a little angel when I was born but my cousin, Darcy, was a right pain in the ass when she was born. She wouldn't stop crying whenever we babysat her. I remember this one time I got asked to look after her when it was my aunty's wedding and she didn't do anything else but cry from nine in the morning until.."

"Lucy.." Crystal said, interrupting Lucy as she went off track with the original conversation.

"Sorry."

"It isn't.."

"It's Jesse's," Lucy smiled, rubbing her bump.

"That's awful, especially since he can't be around to see his baby grow up," Summer sighed. "You could tell he would be one of those guys who would be an amazing father."

"He's not.." Lucy paused just in time as she was about to blurt out the rest of her sentence. She couldn't tell them about the house and it's supernatural power. How could she? She was already in hospital with people she didn't even know thinking she was crazy. She couldn't have her best friends - her only friends right now, thinking it too. She decided it was best to keep hush about the whole Jesse not being 'dead' thing. "He's not gonna miss the baby growing up. He'll be there in the baby's heart."

Lucy could have gagged right there at the cheesiness of her statement, but it did the trick - both Crystal and Summer smiled.

* * *

Sitting at the desk in the office at home, Jason was surrounded by papers that he had to complete in time for his return to work on Friday. His boss had given him the rest of the week to recover from the drama that had unfolded in his house the week before with Megan.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" a voice asked as the door into the study opened ajar. "Man to man? Father to father? Husband to husband?"

Jason turned around to see that Ben was peering around the chestnut door. "Um, sure."

"This house is possessed. There is energies inside this house - demons possess it. It changes everything and everyone who enters it. Nothing can escape it. Once you are inside these walls, you're doomed. I was doomed. My family were doomed. The family before that were doomed. And the family before that," Ben began as he sat down on the sofa beside Jason's desk. "It's cursed. That curse can never be lifted so long as this house is here. If I was you, I would get yourself and your family out of this house as soon as possible and get as far away as you can from it."

Jason put down his pen from his grip and placed it on the desk. Slowly, he turned on his office chair and looked at Ben in a daze of confusion, trying to understand as to what Ben was getting to. "What do you mean?"

"My family had issues before we moved to this house five years ago - it was the reason we moved from Boston. We wanted a new life away from my mistakes and we thought this house would be our perfect chance," Ben continued. "But we couldn't have been more wrong. You need to get your family out of this house while you still can. You've already dealt with Lucy going insane due to the house. Can you really let your family go through even worse? Because, believe me, that will happen. You don't expect stuff like this to happen but it does."

"You're overreacting," Jason said, shaking his head as he picked up his pen again and went to resume his work.

"Overreacting?" Ben repeated. "Jason, I'm dead. My entire family is dead and, because of this house, we're stuck here forever. No escape. No relaxation. No paradise. Just these walls for eternity. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, let alone a family who have taken myself, my wife and my children in."

"What do you mean by your family had issues?" Jason asked.

"Vivien had a miscarriage at seven months. We lost our baby. I couldn't deal with the grief so I threw my grief into one of my students, Hayden," Ben confessed. "Vivien caught us in bed together. It took me every bit of energy that I had in my body to persuade her to move here with Violet. I thought a fresh start would have helped us all get back to being the family we once were. But if I knew how things were going to end up, I would have just let Vivien walk away from me. I would had rather us all be alive than the pain I caused my family with this house."

* * *

Ed Brown was an alcoholic - his wife knew it, his children knew it, his community knew it. It was a well known fact that Ed Brown would spend the entire day at the local pub then return back home to his wife and two young children to take out his anger on them, using them as a punch bag on a daily basis. A strong stench of alcohol lingering on his breath as he punched his wife, kicked his six year old son and beat his three year old son. Ed Brown was a bully and there was nothing anybody could do to stop him. Prison didn't change him - it made him worse.

Staggering through the door to his cramped two-bed semi in a rough estate of West London, Ed threw his jacket across the lounge as he made his way towards his wife, who was sat in the corner, cradling their three year old son as he quietly cried in her arms. "Ed, please," his wife, Marion, begged as she hushed softly to their son. "It's bad enough having him crying until all hours at night with this fever. I can't be dealing with you coming in and disturbing the children."

"Fuck them," Ed screamed in a drunken rage.

"I can't be doing with this anymore, Ed," Marion blurted out as she stood up from the tattered armchair and made her way across the room towards the staircase. "I'm taking the children and we'll go stop at my mothers for a few days - until Joseph is feeling better, at least."

"No!" Ed argued, grabbing the crying child from Marion's arms and flinging him onto the sofa, causing the child to scream even louder.

"Ed, please!" Marion cried as she tried to fight Ed off her. "Just let me go. Let us go."

Without replying, Ed pushed Marion with his huge frame and hurled her into the door. Grabbing hold of the door, Marion opened it up as quick as she could and ran down the path towards the main street. "Help!" she began screaming as she ran down the street. "Help me!"

After locking the front door behind his wife, Ed made his way back over to the sofa and smiled down with a psychotic grin at the terrified three-year old. Backing into a corner, Joseph began to cry for his 'mummy'.

"Mummy can't help you now," Ed cackled as he grabbed hold of the child and carried him into the kitchen, shutting the door behind them.

Even though the door was shut, everything that was going on in the kitchen could be heard in the lounge. Joseph continued to cry for his mother. But then silence fell. A few moments later, a deafening scream sounded from the kitchen door. Sat at the top of the stairs, listening to everything that was going on downstairs, was Christopher - Ed and Marion's six year old son. Silence fell once again on the Brown's household - this time it was blood-curdling. Appearing from the kitchen, Ed smiled up at Christopher, covered in blood splatters.

"Hello, son," Ed grinned as he began to make his way up the stairs - the knife in his hand still dripping with fresh blood.

Christopher jumped up from the stairs as he noticed the bloodstains on Ed's grubby shirt. Running back into the darkened bedroom he shared with his murdered brother, Christopher slammed the door behind him and barricaded it with everything that he could get his hands on in the short space of time that Ed gave him to save his life. Just as Ed reached the top step and began the short journey down the hallway in the direction of the children's bedroom, the front door was barged open and police officers swarmed in.

* * *

Bundled beneath a blanket as he sat in the cold family room of the local police station, Christopher continued to cry as he thought of his baby brother and relived the moment he heard his father had murdered him just the night before. Ed had been arrested before he managed to cause more harm to his only surviving son. Marion had been taken to the mortuary by police officers to formally identify her dead son as part of the police procedures. Christopher had been left in the care of strangers as they prosecuted his father for his own brother's murder. Barely six-years old and he had just lost two of the most important members of his family.

"Hello, Christopher," one police woman smiled to him as she walked into the room, carrying a tray of biscuits. "I hope you like 'Jammy Dodgers'."

Christopher didn't reply - he merely sniffled.

Placing the tray of biscuits down on the stained coffee table that sat in the middle of the room in front of the threaded sofa where Christopher was sobbing, the police woman sighed to herself. They didn't teach her this in police training. She could deal with the drunken and disorderly. She could deal with the violent and suicidal. The only thing she couldn't deal with was the distraught family members left behind after a tragic crime had ripped their family apart.

"That's a nice t-shirt," the police woman smiled, attempting to make small talk with the shattered six-year old. "Do you like 'Sesame Street'?"

Christopher nodded as he wiped the tears that were trickling down his cheek with the grubby sleeve of his shirt. "Big Bird is my favourite."

* * *

The office was filled with the sound of hustle and bustle as investigating officers rushed around, trying to solve crimes by answering the telephones that were constantly ringing and rustling through papers that were piled higher than Mount Everest on each desk that was cramped into the space. "Detective Jessop?" a timid voice asked in the far end of the room as a small woman knocked on the door to the boss.

"Come in."

Opening the door, the woman walked in, armed with a file and closed the door behind her. The atmosphere in the smaller office was much different to that on the other side of the door to it.

"Detective Jessop, I'm P.C. Glynne," the woman introduced as she held her hand out across the desk and waited for Detective Jessop to shake it. After he completed his half of the social gesture, P.C. Glynne sat down on the empty chair opposite him and began to open the paper file that was in front of her. "I'm working on the murder at H.M Dartmoor Prison and there's some new evidence that has come to light in recent days and we believe it was a case you were working quiet close to."

The detective mumbled under his breath before taking a sigh and reaching his hand over the desk to take the papers from the woman's hand. Detective Jessop couldn't have looked any less interested in what the woman had to say, even if he tried. As he unenthusiastically flicked through the file, something in him changed. He sat up and placed the file in front of him, reading through it with his full attention - resulting in P.C. Glynne smirking at the result.

"The guy murdered was Arnold Austin?" Detective Jessop asked.

"Yes. That's the letter he wrote to the parents of.." P.C. Glynne paused as she flicked through the notes. "The parents of Nathan Miller - the schoolboy killed in the forest three years ago. It seems Austin wanted to make a confession to them personally. We presume that his cellmate found the letter before it had prison approval, realised who Austin was and took revenge for the family. He was bludgeoned to death with a pencil."

"Karma for being a teacher, I suppose."

"But what the press don't know is Austin was actually a 'Christopher Lopez'. He was protected with the witness protection programme after he witnessed his father kill his younger brother."

"This can't get out," Detective Jessop demanded as he handed the file back to P.C. Glynne. "Burn the file."

* * *

"After Nathan died, I launched all my pain and grief into a bottle of vodka. Whenever I was drinking, I forgot about everything. It made me cope. It wasn't until my family realised the problem that it was too late," Jason began to explain to Ben. "Eve and I - we were too focused on me not hitting the bottle again over my job that we failed to realised what was happening to our daughter. When she got raped.. I.."

"I know you killed that boy," Ben confessed.

"How?" Jason froze.

"I saw the way you drove off with him, but I don't blame you," Ben smiled. "I would have done the exact same if he had touched Violet. It's a father's instinct."

"This house made me a murderer and I'm gonna do whatever I can to get out of this house. I just need a plan."

"A plan?" Ben asked. Jason nodded. "I'll help you."


	12. A Mother's Love

**Chapter Twelve: A Mother's Love**

The Californian sunshine beamed down on the grounds of the hospital where Lucy had spent the last few months rehabilitating in a calm atmosphere of tranquil relaxation. On the grass beside the hospital's impressive building, a group of elderly patients participated in their weekly session of aerobics as the younger patients - some of whom Lucy had became friends with - were spending their morning basking in the sunshine as they laid on the grass. It didn't look like a mental hospital. In fact, it resembled more of a holiday resort with general daytime activities taking place in the heat of the foreign sun. Inside the hospital, Lucy was sat on her usual spot on the sofa in the therapy room with a blanket draped across her belly. Sat opposite her therapist, Lucy was being studied carefully by the therapist as they were mid-conversation.

"So I just go home?" Lucy asked in disbelief. "Just carry on like none of this happened? Back to normal?"

Her therapist leant forward slightly, and with a smile across her face, she shook her head gently. "Of course not. You don't have to pretend like this happened. I don't expect that of you. Things like this take time to recover from. Not talking about how you were feeling is part of the reason of how you got into this situation in the first place," she smiled. "You need to talk to your parents about everything and anything, Lucy. Anything the slightest that is bothering you and you need to discuss it with your mom and dad. They really want to be there for you."

Lucy nodded - not taking a blind bit of notice to what her therapist had to say as she was too busy fixating on one thing in particular. "But I can go home?"

The therapist took a final nod. "You can go home."

"When?" Lucy asked, almost bursting in ecstasy as she grinned away like a Cheshire cat.

"How does today sound?" her therapist replied.

"Amazing," Lucy beamed.

Struggling up from the sofa, Lucy placed her hand on her nearly fully developed baby bump and grinned down at her stomach.

"Just remember to come in once a week for a therapy session like normal," the therapist instructed. "But apart from that.. You can go get your stuff. I'll go ring your parents."

"Thank-you so much," Lucy grinned, throwing her arms around her therapist, who was slightly taken back by Lucy's affection. "You honestly have no idea how much you've helped me over the past months."

The second she unlinked her arm from around the therapist's neck, Lucy waddled across the room and down the corridor towards her room to collect her belongings. As she rummaged around the bottom of the wardrobe for her empty suitcase, she found herself still beaming a smile from ear to ear, humming to herself as she imagined of her reunion with everyone back at home - the huge hug from her mum, the warm smile from her dad, the never-ending cuddle with Jesse. She couldn't wait. Not only did she miss her family, but Lucy missed everything else about the house - the visitors, the smells, the sounds, everything.

* * *

Putting her car keys on the table in the dining room, Eve smiled to herself as she admired the new nail equipment she had ordered for the salon. "Look at this," she smiled to Jason as he walked into the room and sighed at the sight of the package that had took over the dining room table. "Look at all these colours. I might try them out tonight. I could do with a manicure."

"Do we really have to keep it in here though?" Jason asked. "I wanted to make a pie for dinner tonight. We can't have pie at the breakfast bar or in the lounge on our laps."

"We'll have a takeout tonight," Eve replied. "This will be gone by tomorrow."

Reluctantly, Jason nodded as he took another sigh. It wasn't like he had any choice - what Eve wanted, Eve got. As Jason walked back into the kitchen in search of a takeout menu, the phone in the hallway began to ring. Heading over in the phone's direction, he picked it up and placed it to his ear.

"Hello, Miller residence," he answered as he flicked through the bundle of leaflets that had built up by the side of the phone, completely uninterested in what the person on the other end of the phone line had to say. "How may I help you?"

The disinterested facial expression soon turned to panic as he listened to the phone call intently. "We'll be right there."

"Who was that?" Eve asked, carrying bubble wrap out of the dining room.

"The hospital."

Eve stopped in her path and looked at Jason in horror - like she had just seen a ghost. "Is it?"

Jason nodded. "She's having the baby."

As commotion erupted in the hallway with Jason grabbing their belongings and Eve in a daze of daydreaming as they both began to dash out the door towards their car, Jesse stood at the top of the stairs and sighed. He knew his child was about to make their first appearance in the big world and it was painful for him to know he couldn't be there to see it - he couldn't be there to watch his baby take their first breath, he couldn't be there to help Lucy through labour, he couldn't be there to bond with his baby in the first few hours of their life. Feeling helpless, Jesse sat down on the top step.

"Don't worry," a voice said as footsteps headed towards the top of the staircase, followed by a person sitting down on the step beside Jesse. "She'll be fine."

Jesse turned to look. Surprised, Jesse realised it was Tate. "I'm gonna miss the birth of my child."

"Being dead sucks, right?" Tate sighed, watching as Eve ran back into the house and grabbed her car keys.

"I wouldn't be dead if it wasn't for you," Jesse snarled as he stood up from the stairs and walked down the hallway in the opposite direction to Tate, who still sat on the top step.

Tate refrained from following him for a few moments but soon gave into temptation and stood up, heading in the same direction as Jesse went - Lucy's bedroom. Walking through the open doorway, Tate closed the door behind him and sat down on the sofa, looking at Jesse, who was holding a picture frame on the bed.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry until you realise that I mean it?"

Jesse laughed as he looked at Tate. "It's not something I can just forget like that. It's not like you stole my lunch money back in elementary or you stole my girlfriend back in high school. You killed me, Tate. You stole my life away from me."

"That wasn't me though," Tate replied. "You don't understand. Nobody understands. Only Lucy understood but you took her away from me. I can't control it. Within me, there is a monster. A monster I have no say about. A monster that just fucks shit up and lets me deal with the consequences. It's the same monster that killed those kids. It's the same monster that raped Violet's mom."

"You don't get it though, do you?" Jesse asked as he stood up from the bed and slowly shuffled his way across the room in Tate's direction. "I used to have a life. I used to be able to go wherever I wanted. I used to be able to go to school or soccer practice. I used to be able to go to McDonalds and binge on burgers. I used to be able to go to the bar and have that thrill of getting served when I'm not even legal to drink. I used to feel things. I used to be things. I could have been amazing things but you stole that chance away from me. I used to have parents who love me."

"You see, I wouldn't know about that."

Jesse paused as he sat at the foot of Lucy's bed and looked across at Tate. "What?"

"My dad ran away when I was younger. He didn't even say goodbye or anything. He just left," Tate replied. "Maybe it was because I wasn't the son he wanted. Maybe it was because he was too ashamed of me that he couldn't stand to stay around any longer. My mother always resented me, and for that, I hated her."

"Your father loved you," a voice announced. Looking over to the doorway, Tate saw that Moira was stood in front of the closed door, looking straight back at him through her only good eye. "Your father loved you so much. You were the only good thing in his life."

"You don't know that," Tate argued. "Go away."

"No, Tate," Moira sighed as she sat down on the sofa beside him. "I've been wanting to tell you this for years. God knows I've tried, but your mother forbid me. She has no hold on me now. She has no hold on you now. She's gone. Packed up. Left the city. Nothing is keeping her here anymore. Not even this house."

Tate looked at Moira in confusion. "What?"

"My dear boy," Moira paused. "Your father didn't leave. He's still here. You just can't see him. But he can see you."

"You're lying."

Jesse looked at them both, trying to comprehend with what was going on but he didn't have the slightest idea. It was like they were speaking in a foreign language, speaking in riddles - speaking in foreign riddles.

"How do you think I got this eye, Tate?" Moira asked, pointing to her clouded eye.

Tate shrugged his shoulders, not seeing the relevance of Moira's partial blindness to the current conversation.

"All the way through my life I have had to deal with cleaning up after other people's messes and dealing with other people's dirty laundry," Moira began. "Your mother made that my burden for eternity."

None of Moira's words seemed to be clearing up Tate's confusion - he still looked as lost as ever as he looked at the old woman sat in front of him.

"Your father made advances with me when you were just a little boy. I gave into temptation once yet he still chased after me like an animal. Your mother shot me right here," Moira paused as she pointed to her fogged up eye. "She then shot your father."

"No," Tate argued. "He ran away."

"That's what she led you to believe, Tate," Moira replied. "You're a smart kid. Don't let her manipulating lies confuse you with the truth. She is the reason why you are like you are today."

Tate shook his head violently. "My father isn't dead."

"I am."

Suddenly, another figure appeared in the room.

"Dad.." Tate paused. "It's really you, isn't it?"

Hugo nodded. "It's really me. Moira's telling you the truth. Your mother did this. She needs to pay."

* * *

In a busy corridor of a hospital ward, Jason and Eve ran as fast as they both could, dodging patients as they went in search of a specific room that the receptionist had given them - the room their daughter was about to give birth in. Finally, they arrived at the empty hospital room and looked in to see Lucy screaming out in agony as she panted through the contractions. Opening the door, Jason was thrown back down memory lane as memories of Lucy's birth came flooding back to him. All Eve could do when she saw her daughter was burst out in tears.

"Honey," she sobbed as she dashed over the room and grabbed hold of her daughter's hand.

Lucy looked up at her mother with fear in her eyes. "Mum, I'm scared."

"I know, honey," Eve said in a calming tone as the midwife gave her a look. "But we're here now. I'll be here with you through this. You're not alone. You can do this."

"I can't," Lucy begged. "Make it stop. Please. I can't do it. I don't wanna do it."

"Lucy," Eve paused as she took a deep breath. She knew that right now all she had to do was be strong for her daughter, but seeing her only child in this much agony was making her only task seem like an impossibility. Inside, Eve wanted to burst into tears again and hold onto Lucy until the pain went away. "Lucy, look at me."

Lucy stopped crying out in pain as she looked at her mother. Sweat was dripping off Lucy's brow as tears trickled down her rosy cheeks.

"Lucy, I know you can do this and I also know you will do this. You're about to experience the most amazing thing in the entire world. The minute you hold that baby in your arms for the first time, your entire life will change - your life will get meaning. I've not been there for you and I will never regret myself for letting you down but I can be there for you now and I won't let you down. We're gonna get you through this, okay? Together."

Lucy nodded. Huffing, another contraction struck. Lucy continued to scream the pain out as the midwife began to check her dilation.

"Are you ready to have this baby then, Lucy?" the midwife smiled up to Lucy. "Looks like this little one can't wait to meet his mommy."

Another blanket of fright overtook Lucy's face but her mother soon began to reassure her in the best way that she could - a smile. With a deep breath, Lucy nodded back at the midwife. "Let's do this."

Sat on the porte-cochère, Jesse stared out into the gardens of the house in a daze. He knew that any moment his baby could be born. He was becoming a father and he didn't even have the chance to tell his own mother and father the news. For all they knew, Jesse's lifeline ended with the day his body was found in the forest. They didn't know about Lucy. They didn't know about their baby. They didn't know about his adventure with the afterlife. They didn't know the truth. They never would. To them, Jesse was their dead son who had

As Jesse continued to contemplate over everything, Lucy was giving birth - not twenty miles away from the house. Surrounded by her mother and father, Lucy continued to push her baby into the world. The whole room seemed to be in a sea of silence, even though Lucy was screaming in agony and both her parents and midwife were giving her comments of support. The silence soon ended though when the baby's cries filled the room for the first time.

"You've done it," Eve cried in synchronisation with the baby's cries.

"Congratulations, Lucy," the midwife beamed as she bundled the baby into a blanket and passed her over to the new mother. "You have a beautiful baby boy."

Lost in a state of amazement, Lucy stared at the baby that was crying softly in the blanket. Cradling it in her arms, she knew from that moment right there that her mother was right. The connection between her fingertips and the baby's soft skin had given her meaning. It was something she had never experienced before. She felt a sudden rush of power running through her veins - love. Looking down at the baby that she held so close to her chest, Lucy's face of pain and agony changed into a smile of ecstasy.

"She's beautiful, Lucy," Jason gushed, trying to hide the fact that he was getting emotional with the whole situation, trying to keep on his composed face for the sake of his daughter and son.

* * *

Sitting by a table in the hospital's cafe, Eve nursed her empty mug of coffee as Jason tucked into a full English breakfast. Staring into space, Eve began contemplating over all the options her family had left.

"I suppose we'll have to stop off at the store on the way home," Eve sighed to Jason as she finally torn her eyes away from her mug. "I mean, we have been so engrossed in making sure Lucy got better that we forgot to think of the next step - her and the baby coming home. We need everything. We haven't even got a cot. We need bottles and formula."

Jason put down his cutlery on the side of his plate and looked at his wife through his tired eyes. "We're not going back to that house."

Eve shook her head. "We have to, Jason. Our daughter has just had a baby. She needs stability, at least until the baby is a few months old and then we can decide on the next step."

"She also needs a safe environment and that house isn't safe at all. You've seen what it can do. You've seen what that house does to people. We almost lost our daughter in that house. We can't return."

"Our daughter has just had a baby though. You know yourself that moving is one of the most stressful things to go through. It could tip her over the edge again and this time, we might lose her for good."

"I think you seem to be forgetting, Eve, that our daughter got knocked up by some dead kid - our underaged daughter, may I add," Jason argued. "It's about time that I put my foot down when making decisions about this family. We are not going back to the house and that is final."

Defeated, Eve nodded. She couldn't argue with her husband over anything else anymore. Regardless of how much she loved living back in her home city of Los Angeles and how close she felt to her roots, Eve knew her family came first - foremost her daughter. Before they moved half way across the world, Eve didn't truly consider the effects the move could have on her entire family. Now, she couldn't help but feel guilty about everything that had gone on since they moved transatlantic. Part of her knew that none of the ongoings in the past nine months would have happened if it was not for her rash decision to move to Los Angeles to be closer to her dying mother.

As Eve continued to clutch onto her empty mug and Jason continued to devour his greasy breakfast, Lucy laid in her hospital bed just down the corridor from the cafe. Finding it hard to drift off, Lucy began tossing and turning, attempting to get comfortable as the drugs from labour slowly began to wear off. Unbeknown to Lucy, a silhouette stood in the corridor outside the hospital room, looking in through the slits in the blind that hung at the window. After a few moments of staring at Lucy, the figure began to walk down the corridor - picking up speed the further they got down the corridor. Walking through a set of double doors at the end of the corridor that was labelled 'maternity ward', the figure stopped just before the window that looked into the room that was filled with incubators lined up neatly in rows. Newborn babies all laid in the incubators. Some laid crying. Some laid peacefully. But none of the other babies mattered for the unknown profile. Lucy's baby laid with his tiny hands formed into tiny fists as his eyelids flickered slightly, dreaming away silently - completely oblivious to the fact somebody was staring down at him through the glass.

* * *

The next morning, Lucy awoke at the crack of dawn to find the sunlight streaming into her hospital room. At first, she was in an unenthusiastic daze. Well, that was until she realised she was no longer in the mental institute. She was free. After weeks of wondering when this moment would arise, she was finally free from the screaming that happened late at night from the other patients and the alarms that would awaken her during the early hours of the morning from another suicidal attempt - some successful, some not so successful. It was only at that moment that Lucy realised where she was and why she was there. Her baby. Sitting up, she frantically looked around for her baby, only to realise she was all alone in the hospital. Eve and Jason had gone back to the house while Lucy was sleeping.

Sat in the lounge of the house, Eve looked around the room and sighed. Even though she was aware of the house's negative capabilities, she couldn't help but feel sad over leaving it. She knew the house was full of bad energies and as long as her family were there, none of them were safe, but this house had grown to be her home. It was everything she had dreamt of since she was a little girl. The impressive turret style exterior; the stunning Tiffany glass. It was her dream home.

"Eve."

"Jesse," Eve smiled as she turned around to see Jesse stood behind the sofa.

"I hope you don't mind me asking but.." Jesse paused as he walked into the room and stopped just before the sofa. "May I?" Eve nodded, signalling for Jesse to sit down beside her on the sofa. "How is Lucy?"

"Lucy's doing fine," Eve nodded, seeming unenthusiastic over the whole situation. "And the baby is doing amazing too. He's beautiful."

"He?" Jesse asked. His face lit up as soon as he spoke the words. "I have a son."

Eve nodded. "You have a son."

Jesse took a deep breath. "You're not bringing her back here, are you?" Jesse asked. Eve looked at him, trying to act confused by his request for information but she didn't need to act - Jesse could sense the truth. "It's okay. I get it. She's not safe here - her or her.. our baby."

"Jesse, it's nothing personal. Believe me. I know you'd be an amazing father for my grandson and, maybe one day, an amazing husband for my daughter," Eve said, taking hold of Jesse's hand as she looked at his devastated facial expression. "But this house. It isn't safe. It isn't safe for anybody."

Jesse nodded. "Take them."

"If there was any other way, we'd do it within a heart beat."

"I know."

* * *

Clipping her son into the carrier seat that Jason had brought to the hospital, Lucy smiled down at him - his blue eyes beaming back up at her that were identical to Jesse's. The silence of the hospital room was soon enough interrupted when Jason and Eve returned back from filling out Lucy's insurance and discharge forms.

"Is that everything then?" Lucy asked, smiling over her shoulder as she picked up her son's carrier seat and placed it on the floor before she began to pack her belongings back into her bag.

Eve and Jason nodded in complete synchronisation before giving each other an almost identical look to one another. "Lucy, we need to talk to you."

"What about?" Lucy asked as she folded up her dressing gown and placed it on top of her bag.

"Your mother and I have been talking and.." Jason paused for a slight moment. "We've decided it would be best to move back to England. The house isn't safe anymore - especially for you and him."

Lucy wanted to fight back and argue over why she wanted to stay in Los Angeles but she couldn't. Her body lacked every source of energy and all she wanted to do was sleep. Instead of giving her parents the expected debate, Lucy surprised them with a nod of agreement. "Okay."

"Okay?" Eve asked, completely flabbergasted by Lucy's reaction.

"I know you wouldn't have decided it without me and him in mind," Lucy smiled. "I'm fed up of arguing and hiding away from things. Okay."

"Oh, you can have that back too," Eve smiled, reaching into the back pocket of her jeans and pulling out Lucy's phone. "I'm sure you can't wait to tell all your friends back home about this little one's arrival - maybe share a photo on Facebook? You still need to think of a name for him."

As Eve looked at the baby, who was bundled in blankets, sleeping soundly in his carrier seat, Lucy shoved her phone into the pocket of her hoodie. "I'll do that later," Lucy smiled, confused as to why her mum was acting like this. She didn't expect her mum's reaction to be this positive. After everything that Lucy had put them through in the past few months, how could Eve still be remaining this positive about it all? How could her mother be so easy into moving back to England too? After all, Los Angeles was her mother's home - the salon here was her dream and everything she had worked for. She had put her all into the house and salon. Why was she being so easy in giving it all up? Lucy continued to look suspiciously at Eve, who cooed down at her sleeping grandchild.

"We've arranged a hotel for us to stop in tonight," Jason smiled as he wrapped his arm around Eve and joined her in cooing over their grandchild. "We thought it would be best if you didn't go back to the house as it could spark up some bad memories and such."

"Okay," Lucy agreed absentmindedly.

"I'll get us all booked on a flight in a few days. I just don't think flying is the best idea for you right now," Jason added.

Lucy nodded again. However, there was something unconvincing about her nod. Eve and Jason were too busy, distracted by the newborn baby's beauty to realise that their daughter wasn't too eager in their plan to move back to England. At first glance, Lucy was in agreement at moving back to England as it was her home, but then she remembered about Jesse. She couldn't leave him behind. Lucy didn't let her parents onto her feelings though, regardless of how much she knew she should have shared her thoughts with her parents - just as her therapist had instructed the day before. It was there that she decided. Lucy had a plan. She wasn't going back to England.

Picking up the baby's carrier seat, Jason began to walk out of the hospital room and down the corridor in the direction of the labelled exit. Eve followed along behind, still admiring her grandchild, whilst Lucy remained in the hospital room, tapping away on her phone.

"Hello, Summer?" Lucy paused as she held the phone to her ear. "Yeah. Bring your car to the back of the hospital as soon as you can. I can't explain, just do it. Please."

"Alright, alright," Summer said in agreement as she grabbed the car keys from her bedside table and jumped off her bed. "I'll be there in ten minutes. You better explain it all to me in the car though, missy."

Without replying, Lucy ended the phone call and shoved her phone into the pocket of her hoodie. She had a plan and nothing was gonna get in the way of the plan. On purpose, Lucy dropped the bag from her hands onto the floor beside the hospital bed and smiled down at it. She was a girl on a mission and this mission was going to succeed - no matter what it took. Closing the hospital room's door behind her, Lucy eventually made her way down the corridor in the same direction that her parents went, taking her newborn son with them - dawdling in the hope that it would kill some time. Time was all she had at that moment and every second was precious to her.

By the time Lucy had caught up with them, they had already clipped her son into the car and were about to climb in themselves. As Lucy opened up the back door of the car, she paused. "Oh. I've left my bag in the hospital room," Lucy sighed.

"Don't worry," Jason smiled as he shut the driver's door and turned back to face the hospital. "I'll go get it."

"I'll go pay the parking while we wait," Eve suggested, closing her door.

The moment her parents disappeared back into the hospital, Lucy slammed her door shut - waking up the sleeping baby in the process. With his cries filling the car, Lucy rushed around to the door at his side, opening it up and unclipping her baby from the carrier seat which he laid in. Holding him close to her chest, she looked up at the hospital before making a run for it. As she began to run as fast as she could, holding onto her child ever so tightly, Lucy looked around for signs of Summer and her car. There was nothing. Waiting in the shadows of a tall building that stood at the back of the city hospital, Lucy knew it was only a matter of time before her parents realised her plan and came looking for her and the baby. Just as Eve came running around the corner, shouting Lucy's name, Summer's car came screaming around the corner - just in time. Clambering into the car, Lucy looked at Summer with a smile.

"What are you doing with a baby?" Summer asked.

"Don't worry. I didn't steal him," Lucy smiled. "Just drive."

Following her instructions, Summer reversed the car into a parking spot before driving in the opposite direction to where Eve was running from, screaming for Lucy to stop. Holding the baby in her arms, Lucy looked down and smiled at him.

"So let me get this right," Summer paused. "You had the baby and now you're running away from your parents?"

Lucy paused. "Pretty much."

"But why?"

"They want me to move back to England."

"We can't have that," Summer smiled. "I mean, it's hard to have weekends at the mall when you're in England."

"Exactly," Lucy said, smiling at Summer's attempt to make a light-hearted joke at the situation. "Do you think he looks like a Thomas?"

"Thomas?" Summer asked, quickly glancing over at the baby as she continued to drive the car down the road in the direction of 939 Berro Drive. "Not really."

"Thought not."

As the car continued to make its way through the streets of Los Angeles, Lucy stared out of the window, trying to find inspiration for a name for her baby. Rocking him gently in her arms, Lucy paused as one word caught hold of her attention out of the corner of her eye. _Bailey's lawyers_.

"Bailey?" Lucy smiled, before looking down at her son. "Bailey."

"He looks like a Bailey," Summer laughed, taking another quick glance as her attention was split between her best friend and the road. "Bailey Miller."

"Porter."

"Porter?" Summer asked. "But Jesse isn't here anymore."

"Exactly. If I'm lucky enough to hear this baby call me 'mom' or 'mum' or whatever, then I think it's only right that Bailey carries on Jesse's name."

Summer quickly flashed a smile at Lucy as they slowly began to drive down Berro Drive. Arriving at the house, Summer turned off the engine and unclipped her seat belt. Just before she had chance to climb out of the car, Lucy reached her hand over to the driver's seat and stopped her.

"I just want to be by myself for a bit," Lucy smiled, trying to think of a valid excuse as to why Summer shouldn't come in the house. "It won't take my parents long to work out where I've gone and as soon as they get home, the fireworks will happen so it's probably best you don't come in." It wasn't even a lie. Lucy knew her parents would be fuming with her actions ,but at that given moment in time, she didn't care. All she wanted was for Jesse to meet his son.

"Only if you're sure," Summer paused.

Lucy nodded.

"Good luck with motherhood," Summer laughed.

"Thanks," Lucy chuckled, carefully carrying her baby out of the car as he began to drift back off to sleep.

As Lucy made her way down the path and towards the house that she now called 'home', she looked down at her baby with a huge grin on her face. "Are you ready to meet daddy?"

Gently, Lucy opened the front door - struggling slightly as she held onto Bailey in her arms. As she got into the house, she was met by the cool atmosphere on her skin. Tightening the blankets that were bundled around Bailey, Lucy looked around the house. Not much had changed in the past ten weeks. It was as if she hadn't left at all.

"Hello," she called out but the house echoed and she received no reply.

Walking further into the house, she looked down at the baby in her arms. As she smiled at her sleeping son, footsteps slowly began to walk down the stairs. A figure stood looking down at the mother and son.

"Jesse," Lucy said with a huge grin on her face as she noticed her boyfriend on the staircase.

"You're back?" Jesse asked in amazement. "But they.. your parents.. they said they were taking you back to England. I thought you had gone forever."

"Did you really think I would let them take me away from here? Did you honestly think that I would leave without you meeting your son?" Jesse shook his head as he looked at the baby in her arms. "Come meet him," Lucy beamed.

Slowly, Jesse continued to make his way down the stairs. By the time that Jesse had reached the bottom step to be reunited with his girlfriend and their baby son for the first time, the front door opened and in rushed Jason and Eve. Before Jason had chance to say anything, Eve stopped him by putting her arm out in front of his body. As they stood in the opened doorway, they watched as Lucy passed over the baby to Jesse for the first time.

* * *

Laid on her bed, Lucy held onto her pillow as she was lost in a deep thought of worry. She hadn't spoken to anybody since her parents gave into the idea of stopping in the house. She had disappeared up to her bedroom as her parents continued to gush over Bailey. After a while, Jesse went in search of her and soon enough found her by herself on the bed.

"I'm scared too," Jesse smiled as he looked at her, noticing her worries as she laid silently on the bed in front of him. Clambering next to him, he began to stroke Lucy's back. "Hey, do you really think I know what to do with a baby either? I mean, he's just a little person. He's gonna depend on us entirely. It's scary."

"Way to make me feel better about the situation," Lucy joked.

"But we'll be fine," Jesse said, reassuring her. "You're gonna be an amazing mom."

"Mom or mum?" Lucy asked.

"Momma or mumma?"

"It's mommy or mummy," Lucy laughed.

"Right now, you're his world - just like you're my world," Jesse smiled. "You're gonna be an amazing mother, Lucy. I know you are."

Lucy's mouth curled at the edges as she forced a smile out. "I just want to be there for him. Whenever he needs me, I'll be there. I don't what he does or who he becomes. I will always love him."

"Same," Jesse agreed, lost in Lucy's determination.

* * *

Gently rocking Bailey back and forth in her arms, Lucy found herself doing the exact same thing she had been doing for the past twenty-four hours since Bailey was born - smiling. Holding him in her arms made her feel complete. Nothing could take that feeling away from her. As she sat in the lounge by herself, she slowly closed her eyes and sunk back onto the sofa, still holding onto her baby.

"He's beautiful."

Startled slightly, Lucy opened up her eyes to see Tate looking back down at her. She didn't know how to react. She was glad to see him - God knows she had missed him like crazy since she was away. She knew she shouldn't have missed him after everything she knew about him, but she couldn't help it.

"Thanks."

"It's good to have you back," he smiled, sitting down on the sofa beside her - not being able to take his eyes off of Bailey.

"It's good to be back, I suppose."

Silence filled the room again as Bailey continued to sleep amongst the awkward atmosphere that had developed between Tate and Lucy. "I'd have loved to have kids one day," Tate paused. "I wouldn't have failed them like my mother failed me."

"Can we just cut the bullshit, Tate?" Lucy blurted out, completely ignoring Tate's attempt at the baby related small talk. "Why are you still here? After everything said and done, why do you still keep coming back?"

"Because I can't leave you. I can't leave Violet. I love you. I love her."

"Tate, I was crazy when I was with you. I can't let that happen again. Love isn't supposed to do that to you. Love is supposed to empower you with this feeling of sanity. Love is supposed to make everything have meaning. But loving you made me lose sight of who I really was. You made me go mad."

"But.." Tate tried to argue back but Lucy shook her head, interrupting him before he had the chance to reel off her excuses.

"Tate. I love Jesse. I have from the moment I first met him. And you love Violet. That's okay with me," Lucy smiled, cuddling Bailey as she spoke softly in the hope that he wouldn't be awakened by her voice - luckily for her, the sound of his mother's voice soothed Bailey into a sort of comatose state of sleep. "You two are meant for each other, just like Jesse and I."

"We're always gonna have a special connection though," Tate paused as he torn his eyes from Bailey and focused his attention onto Lucy. "You understand me. You get me. Nobody else does that. Some people say that I can't last a day in the real world but I say that they wouldn't survive one single night in mine. You know what that feels like. You know the monster."

"Tate, you are the monster."

Tate shook his head as tears formed in his eyes. "I don't wanna be the monster anymore."

"Then let it go." Both Tate and Lucy turned to look at the doorway to find out who the third voice was - Violet. "Strength doesn't come from winning. Strength comes from losing. God knows that we've all lost something in this house but it is our chance now to change that. We're all stronger than ever now and we can fight this. Tate, you can fight your demons. I know you can. That's why we loved you - love you. You have that courage to do it. You just don't realise it."

"Nobody else can help you now," Lucy added. "You're on your own to do this. The only way out is for through. It is what makes us all human. Let it all in and then let it all go." Shaking off the tears from his cheek with his hand, Tate nodded. "Nobody saw what I was hiding inside apart from you, Tate. You helped me. Now help yourself."

Standing up from the sofa, Lucy cradled Bailey close to her chest as she made her way across the room, placing Bailey in the crib that Jason had spent most of the afternoon building. The sun was beginning to set outside and the darkness was soon drawing in over Los Angeles. Looking down at her sleeping son, Lucy smiled.

"Do you guys mind watching him for me?" Lucy asked as she turned around to look at Tate and Violet, who were both sat on the sofa, holding hands as if they belonged glued together - fingers intertwined. "My parents shouldn't be too long from the store."

Tate and Violet both nodded in agreement without any signs of hesitation. Just as Lucy was about to leave the lounge, there was an unexpected knock at the door. Sighing to herself, Lucy changed her direction from the staircase to the front door and opened the front door.

"I heard a congratulations are in order."

"Constance.." Lucy paused, unsure of how to react to her neighbour's spontaneous arrival.

Without asking, Constance invited herself into the house and barged past Lucy, who remained stood in the doorway. "Well, you owe me a child so I thought now is the perfect time to get back what is rightfully mine," Constance smiled as she turned back to look at a confused Lucy.

"She owes you nothing," Tate said, interfering in the drama that was unfolding in the hallway of the Miller's house. "That child wasn't even yours - it was mine."

"Oh, please," Constance laughed. "Any child is doomed with a serial killer as a father. Just like any child is doomed with a man whore as a mother."

"I had no luck in life, did I?" Tate asked. "I had the best of both worlds - a serial killer as a mother and a whore as a father."

"Where is the child?" Constance demanded.

"You're not getting him," Lucy said, walking into the lounge as fast as she could in the hope that she would get to Bailey before Constance even managed to get the slightest glimpse of the newborn. "He's my baby. You're not touching him."

"You could make this whole thing a lot easier by just standing out of the way and letting me take him," Constance smiled through her perfect lips. "I mean, what chance does that poor child have in this house? You can't bring up a child - you're still a child yourself. By the looks of you, you would struggle to differentiate between a manicure and a pedicure, let alone a pacifier and steriliser."

"You're right. I am a child myself, but I will learn how to look after my baby and get it right the first time round," Lucy argued, making a stand for herself as she defended her age and showed Constance maturity. "How many times have you had a child and fucked it up, Constance? I mean, from the sounds of it, you're hardly a Mother Teresa or Mary Poppins figure yourself so what gives you the right to come around her, barge into my home with all guns blazing and mouthing off like I owe you something?"

Just as Constance was about to reply, the front door reopened and in walked Jason and Eve, armed with their hands full of shopping bags that looked like they were about to burst at the seams at any moment. With seeing Constance, Eve dropped her bags by the staircase and walked into the lounge to see what the commotion was all about.

"What's going on?" she asked, confused as to what their estranged neighbour was doing in their house.

"Constance, here, was just leaving," Lucy smiled. "Weren't you?"

"Like hell am I," Constance replied and grabbed the fire poker that was stood beside the fireplace.

Jumping in to defend Lucy, Tate tried to fight his mother away as Lucy grabbed Bailey from his cot and held him to her chest as she faced away from Constance, guarding her baby with her life. With one swift hit, Constance let Tate feel the full force of the fire poker and he fell to the floor.

"Give me the God damn baby," she screamed like a maniac as she hurled towards Lucy - the fire poker still in her hands.

Before anybody else had chance to intervene, it was too late. The fire poker had already been struck through Lucy's back, slicing through her skin like the first cut of a freshly baked cake.

"Lucy!" Eve screamed as she ran over to Lucy, grabbing Bailey as Lucy fell to the ground.

Holding the bloody fire poker with her manicured talons, Constance stared down at Lucy in disbelief. She never intended to harm Lucy. She just wanted the baby, but that baby - she was willing to do anything to get him. She had become fixated on the idea of being a mother for a final time ever since Michael had been killed by Lucy all those months ago. She had spent hours dreaming of cradling a baby in her arms every day since her child got taken away from her. Learning that Lucy was pregnant felt as if God was trying to give her a final chance and she wasn't going to let anybody get in the way of her final chance.

Jason rushed over to assist his daughter as she laid on the floor - blood trickling out of the stab wound in her back. As Eve cradled the baby, she stared down at her daughter, who laid fighting for her life in front of her very eyes - something she wished she would never have to witness again in her lifetime. Eve was focusing so hard on praying for Lucy's survival that she failed to realise that Constance was heading in her direction, armed with the bloody fire poker.

"Give me the baby!" Constance growled, striking Eve in the leg with the side of the fire poker.

It was at that moment that the whole room seemed to turn into a scene of slow motion. As Constance dropped the fire poker to the floor and reached out to grab Bailey from Eve's arms, something struck her in the back. Violet quickly caught Bailey as Eve fell to the floor beside Lucy, clutching onto her leg where she had been hit by the brass pole. Vivien appeared behind Constance as the elderly woman fell to the ground, revealing an axe in her back.

"You have no idea how long I have wanted to do that," Vivien exclaimed as she looked down at Constance's body as blood poured out of the axe wound onto the wooden floor.

"Lucy, come on," Jason begged as he continued to apply pressure to the wound in Lucy's back. She slowly drifted in and out of consciousness as she stared up into her father's frightened eyes. "Stay with us. Come on. Just stay with us."

Trying to ignore her own pain as much as she could, Eve crawled over the wooden floorboards to where Lucy was laid. "Come on, baby!" Eve pleaded - tears rolling down her cheek as she grabbed hold of Lucy's hand and squeezed it as tight as she could.

Lucy's eyes continued to flicker as another body entered the room - Jesse. The second he saw the mess that was going on, he screamed Lucy's name and ran across the room to join her parents by her body. Jason continued to try and save his daughter's life while Eve tried to help as much as she could, leaving Jesse holding her hand as he knelt beside her, covered in her blood.

"Come on, you can't die on me," Jesse begged with tears in his eyes. "You can't. Bailey needs you. I need you. Stay with me."

"I.. I can't," Lucy panted as the pain slowly took all her remaining energy from her body. "I can't hold on anymore."

"Please," Jesse cried.

"It hurts. It really hurts."

It was at that moment that Eve removed her hands from Lucy's stomach. "Eve, don't let go. We need to apply pressure to the wound otherwise she'll bleed to death," Jason shouted, trying to take over from Eve as he tried to control the bleeding from the back.

"Jason, it's too late," Eve paused as she looked down at her dying daughter.

"If it really hurts, Lucy, let go," Jesse whispered into her ear.

As Jason continued to fight the battle against death on his daughter's behalf, his wife gave up. She knew it was too late to save her little girl. The way Lucy's eyes were flickering slightly - she knew she was leaving. The colour from Lucy's face had drained out along with the life inside of her. Violet continued to cradle a crying Bailey, trying to comfort him as best as she could. Tate laid knocked out on the floor of the lounge. Jesse continued to hold onto Lucy's hand. Eve tried to convince her husband to let their daughter go.

It was at that moment that Lucy took her final breath and closed her eyes for one final time. She was gone.


	13. The End

**Chapter Thirteen: The End**

Rushing around the other side of their newly purchased Austin 7 car that was parked at the side of the street, Charles Montgomery held open the passenger door and assisted his young wife as she got out of the car with a hand handkerchief tied loosely around her eyes - enough so she couldn't see out. "Charles," she laughed. "Can I take this off now? I want to see the house."

"Not just yet, darling," Charles teased as he guided his wife down the path with both of his hands as he held onto him. "Just a few more moments."

"Charles, I've waited two years for this."

"So a few more moments won't hurt, will it?"

"Charles.." Nora paused as she realised Charles had let go of her hands. "Charles.. Where have you gone, Charles?"

"I'm here still," Charles chuckled, reassuring his wife as he took back hold of her hands. "Right, are you ready?"

"Ready?" Nora asked. "Is this some sort of joke? Of course I'm ready."

Charles slowly began to untie the knot in the handkerchief that was around his wife's head. Pausing for a moment with both ends of the handkerchief in his hand, Charles looked at the house and then at his wife's hair. With a smile plastered across his face, Charles pulled back the handkerchief, letting his wife take the first look at their brand new home. "Here's your castle," Charles grinned as he stood back and watched his wife look up at the house in mesmerisation.

"Charles," she beamed. "It's everything - it's more than I imagined. It's perfect. It's.."

Charles interrupted his wife before she had chance to say another word. "And it's all yours."

"I have a surprise for you too," Nora smiled as she turned around to face a confused Charles. Grabbing hold of both his hands, she stared into his eyes with a smile across her pale face. But she knew just by the gleam in his eyes and by the look on his face that he already knew what she was about to say. "Charles. I'm -," she paused as she went to correct herself. "We're pregnant."

Charles, grinning from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat, wrapped his arms around his wife and held onto her in glee. "Oh, Nora. That's wonderful news. A little Thaddeus of our own."

* * *

As an old style, or as the modern day person would call it - 'vintage', truck pulled up outside on the road outside 939 Berro Drive, a man came rushed down the path, smiling at the driver who jumped out the door. "Doctor Curan? Doctor David Curan?" the driver asked, holding a piece of paper in his hands. "This is 939 Berro Drive, isn't it?"

Doctor Curan nodded. "Yes. Yes."

"I've got your order in the back," the driver said, giving the piece of paper to Doctor Curan. "Would you mind giving me a hand?"

"No, of course not," Doctor Curan replied as he placed the piece of paper down on the lawn and rushed around to assist the driver as he began to heave the new dentist chair from the back of the truck.

As the pair lifted to the chair down the path, into the house and towards the study, the driver couldn't help but look at the beautifully designed house. "Your house," the driver paused as they placed the chair in the middle of the freshly decorated study that was now serving as a surgery for the highly acquired dentist. "Your house. It's beautiful."

Looking down at the dental chair with pride, Doctor Curan nodded. "It is a beauty, isn't it?"

"Live here alone?" the driver asked.

Doctor Curan paused for a moment, looking at the driver in dismay as if his privacy had just been intruded on by a complete stranger. As Doctor Curan was about to confront the driver for his rudeness, he began to realise how alone he actually was - but that didn't exactly make him sad. In fact, he quite enjoyed his own company. "Yes. But I'm sure my friends will soon be making the most of all this free space with cards nights - poker especially." He lied to make sure the driver didn't take him to be a suspicious person, nor a lonely person.

* * *

Lugging a bulky suitcase behind her, the young girl made her way nervously down the path towards the house that she would now call home. Standing aside as she reached the front door, she took a deep breath before she leant over and knocked on the door. Standing back, the girl took another deep breath and waited for somebody to answer the door as her nerves began to build up. After a few moments, the wooden door opened to reveal another young woman with perfectly curled blonde hair with a pair of fashionable glasses perched on the end of her nose as she looked through them.

"May I help you?" the blonde girl asked the stranger stood on the outside of her house.

"I'm Maria," the other girl replied. "I'm - I'm a student. I spoke to a girl on the phone about the spare room. I was.."

"I'll deal with this," a plump woman stepped in as she walked over to the front door from the lounge, where she was sat on the sofa laughing at the television as the knock at the door interrupted her. "Go check on your crabs or something."

After a burst of fake laughter and daggering eyes at the plump woman, the blonde disappeared up the stairs. "That's Gigi. You'll learn to ignore her boosted ego and become amused by her ability to seduce helpless males."

"Gladys," the plump woman smiled, introducing herself warmly as she held her hand out for the new girl to shake.

"Maria," the petite girl replied, returning the warm smile as she took up the woman's offer and shook her hand. Gladys opened the front door fully and stepped aside so that the young girl could make her way into the house. "Are you - are you the matron here?"

"No," Gladys replied as she looked Maria up and down, who stood in the middle of the hallway, looking around at the house's interior with the sound of the television set playing away to itself in the lounge. "We're all nursing students here. You'll be sharing with me, if that's not a problem with you."

"That's fine," Maria smiled. "It's a lovely house."

"It's alright," Gladys said, looking at the house and then back at the girl in front of her. "You're very timid, aren't you?" Maria looked at her new roommate with a look of offence across her small, pale face. "Oh, I didn't mean for you to take that as an insult. I just mean you're very shy. It's good. It's a good thing, especially in this house when you have Queen Ego up there with her minions."

Maria sniggered to herself. "So there's more of her?"

"They're not as bad as her per se. They just hang on her every word. She has them wrapped around her little perfectly pedicured finger," Gladys explained. "Come on, I'll show you to the room and where you can put your stuff - although, I see you haven't got much with you."

"I haven't got much stuff to my name to be honest," Maria smiled as she followed Gladys up the stairs, dragging her suitcase behind her.

Gladys looked over her shoulder and back at the dainty girl she had just met but had grown quite a liking of in the few moments since their first encounter. "If you need anything, just ask."

"Thank-you."

* * *

Walking down the path, carrying a baby in her arms, Constance looked up at the house and smiled. Her husband, Hugo, stood beside her with their daughter's legs wrapped around his waist as she rested her head against his shoulder, looking down at her baby brother - Tate. Walking out of the front door and through the porte-cochère of the house to meet the new, and latest, owners of the house, Marcy had the same usual friendly smile across her house and waltzed down the recently swept path towards the family. "You must be Constance," Marcy assumed.

"This is my husband, Hugo," Constance paused as she signalled to the proud man stood beside her. "And these are our children, Addie and Tate."

"Mommy, can I hold Tate?" Adelaide, or as everyone called her 'Addie', asked as Hugo placed her onto the grass. "Please!"

"Addie, no," her mother sternly snapped. "I've told you before. You're too young and he's too young."

Marcy stood awkwardly as she looked at the girl, who burst into tears. "Mommy didn't mean it in a bad way," Hugo smiled as he picked Addie up again and held her against him as she looked at him through big teary eyes. "I tell you what, why don't we go pick out your room and see what colour you wanna paint it?"

"Pink like all the other pretty girls," Addie beamed, suddenly cheering up as her father chased her into the house in the direction of the rooms.

Constance was stood in the middle of the path, holding a sleeping Tate, as she looked back to Marcy. "Does this house come with a maid?" she asked. "I can't be dealing with all this cleaning when I have my hands full with the children."

"It doesn't," Marcy replied, but noticing the disappointing look on Constance's face and noticing an open opportunity to grab some extra cash while she was at it, she paused for a moment. "But as it happens, I do know a very good woman who could help you with the housekeeping. She's called Moira. Young girl. Very young girl. Beautiful too. But she's a hell of a good cook and great at dusting too."

"She can start on Monday. Tell her to be here no later than 9am. I will dock her wages if she is more than a second late. I like my staff on time. I don't go by this 'late is better than never' bullshit. If she's late, she's sacked. I don't take no excuses from nobody."

Marcy curled the corner of her mouth into a sly grin at Constance's solid and fierce approach as a woman. She knew from the moment she saw Constance that she would get on like a house on fire with her. Constance's sharp styled image and strong headed personality was Marcy's idea of the perfect cup of tea. As they both walked into the house, Marcy turned to Constance. "You mentioned on the phone something about having four children but I can't help notice that you only have two with you presently?"

"Ah, yes. They're.." Constance paused. You could tell by the look on her face that she was trying to think up an excuse as both the women made their way into the house - Tate still asleep in his mother's arms. "They're stopping with a relative right now until we get the house all sorted for them. I didn't want them to be dragged into the hassle of moving at such a young age. They'll see the house later on."

"How old are your children?" Marcy asked.

"The house, does it come with anything we need to know?" Constance asked, completely ignoring Marcy's request of information - flying off the topic and back onto the subject of the house in an attempt to avoid anymore questions.

"Not that I know of," Marcy replied, looking at Constance with an intrigued look.

* * *

Hand in hand, a couple began to walk down the path, following the removal guys as they began to shift all their belongings into their new family house. Larry and Lorraine Harvey were newly married - only four weeks in fact, but it had all happened in such a rush due to Lorraine's unexpected, yet thrilling, pregnancy. Neither of the couple could wait for the arrival of their latest addition to their happy little family. Gently stroking her bulging baby bump, Lorraine leant back against the wall of the house and watched as the removal men continued to unload the truck of furniture into their house.

"I think we're going to be happy here," Lorraine sighed, lost in a daze of happiness.

"Do you know what?" Larry asked, pausing for a moment as Lorraine looked at him. "I think so too."

"I don't think so. I know so," Lorraine laughed as her husband kissed her sweetly on the forehead.

"Us and little Gertrude in here," Larry beamed as he patted his wife's stomach slightly, feeling his unborn child kick beneath his touch.

"For the last time, Larry. We are not in any shape or form going to be calling our daughter 'Gertrude'," Lorraine chuckled, placing her hand on Larry's that still remained on her baby bump. "I like the name 'Angela'."

"What about 'Margaret'?"

"'Margaret?'" Lorraine questioned as she contemplated over the name choice for a moment. "I like it. But no, Angela is this one. Margaret can be the next one."

"Next one?" Larry laughed.

"Yes. Next one," Lorraine giggled as her husband wrapped his arms around her and held onto her tightly, trying to avoid the awkwardly placed baby bump as best as he could - which was an impossibility in itself due to how heavily pregnant Lorraine was.

"I love you, Mrs. Harvey."

"Not as much as I love you, Mr. Harvey."

* * *

Carrying a notepad in one hand and a fluffy pen in the other, Chad Warwick strutted down the unloved path towards the now derelict house that stood in the plot of 939 Berro Drive. The entire house was left in an abandoned state with fire damage in every room - haunting every inch of the house that only a matter of years ago was a family home and had been to many families throughout its history.

Not far behind Chad, Patrick, his partner, tagged behind, looking up at the house in awe. Patrick just didn't seem to have the belief that his boyfriend had that they could turn the house into something amazing. To Patrick, he just saw a burned and charred structure that could do with being pulled down, bulldozed over and built from scratch. Chad, on the other hand, was up for a challenge and couldn't wait to restore the house to its original features.

"This has all got to go," Chad ordered, fluttering his hand in the air towards the overgrown trees that laid in front of the house's exterior. "I want a garden here, not a weeping willow playground for vermin. It needs to be all stripped back to reveal the beautiful features of the house's front. Patrick, look at the architecture - the design. Simply wonderful. They don't make houses quite like this anymore."

As Chad was too engrossed in his plans for the house, he failed to notice that Patrick was stood looking at a young girl who was hidden in the overgrown grass - obviously playing there. "Hey," Patrick smiled as he knelt down to her level. "What's your name?"

"You're going to die in there," Addie smiled.

Patrick looked at Chad, who was too busy writing down notes on his pad to realise what was happening in his surroundings, then back to the girl. "What?"

"You're going to die in there," Addie repeated with the same grin across her face.

Assuming that she was joking, Patrick laughed and held out his hand for her to take. "Come on, sweetheart," Patrick said as she took his hand and he led her out from the grass and down the path towards the rusting gate. "Let's find your home. You must live around here, right?"

"Addie!" a voice called before Constance appeared in the gateway with a concerned look on her face. "Addie. There you are. What have I told you about wandering off? You don't want to be mixing in with these sort of people."

Grabbing hold of Addie's hand with quite some force, Constance began to drag her daughter out the gate and down the street, leaving Patrick looking baffled as he turned back to see Chad still looking at the house, chattering away to himself as he emphasised his plans with lots of hand gestures. After rushing back up the path, Patrick put his hand around Chad's waist and pulled him towards him. "Sounds great."

* * *

Pressing the doorbell, Ben looked around the porte-cochère and through the half-height walls at the surrounding gardens of the house as Vivien stood beside him, looking a little weary about the whole situation as she petted her dog, Hallie. "I love it. Don't you love it, hun?" Vivien looked across at her husband before looking back around at the house as he placed his arm around her shoulder. "I mean, it looks even better than it did online."

"Yeah, it's interesting," Vivien smiled.

Meanwhile, Violet sat on the wall just outside the house, looking up at the building she was going to be calling home from now on with a look of disinterest on her face. "Great, so we're the Addams family now," she muttered to herself.

"Hey, crabby pants," Ben called over to his daughter, ushering her over with his hand as they stood waiting for somebody to answer the door. "Come here."

"What are you doing?" Vivien asked her daughter.

"Isn't this place amazing?" Ben said, putting his free arm around his daughter's shoulders - just in time for the door behind them to open.

"Welcome," Marcy greeted as she stood in the open doorway and looked at the new family in turn.

* * *

With uncertainty, Lucy stood beside her father's car as she looked up at the house. Eve was too busy dreaming of the life she had always wanted with her own award winning salon and picture perfect mansion that was like the movies had to realise Lucy, her only daughter, wasn't as into the house as she was. To be honest, Lucy wasn't even that bothered about the house at all - she just wanted to be back in London in the only place she called 'home'. Jason, on the other hand, was too focused on his wife's feelings to even consider how his daughter was feeling about the new house - their new home. As Jason and Eve continued to admire the house, walking slowly up the path, Lucy remained by the car.

"So, what do you think?" Jason asked - already knowing his wife's reaction, but waiting for it nevertheless.

"I love it," Eve beamed, looking like she was about to explode with happiness as she looked away from the house for a few moments to look at her husband with a huge grin across her face.

Lucy contemplated over her father's question for a few moments before she walked across the path to stand beside her parents, looking up at the house that stood in front of her. "It's interesting, I suppose."

"Well, we had better go sign the contracts with all the paper work and then go pick up Lizzy," Jason suggested with a huge smile across his face, purely from the glee that his wife was emitting as she continued to admire the house.

Whilst Jason and Eve walked up the path and into the house through the grand entrance, Lucy remained outside, slowly following in their direction without any intentions of picking up the pace. Within the time that it had taken Lucy to hastily dawdle down the path, through the porte-cochère that stood by the side of the house and in through the front door that was left wide open, Jason and Eve had met the realtor, Marcy, and already signed the deeds to the house. As Lucy walked into the hallway, she was met by Marcy, who was holding out her hand towards Lucy with a smile across her face. "I don't believe we've met yet," Marcy smiled, still waiting for Lucy's acknowledgement in regards to her hand that was still raised in the air for Lucy to shake. "I'm Marcy."

* * *

Sat leant against the wall in the master bedroom of the house, Nora sighed to herself as she looked out of the window and down at the grounds below of the house she used to own - the house that was built for her. "Being one of the first to die in this house, I've seen it all. All the happy smiles as they arrived on their first day here, unloading their cheap and tacky belongings from the removal vans, but it never lasts and, all of a sudden, it disappears - it all turns into such a mess in this house." Nora paused as she looked back over her shoulder at the bedroom she once shared with her husband. "We used to have our bed against that wall. I remember many a times we used to make love and look up at the ceiling - myself in his arms as he held onto me tightly, wishing that moment would last forever, for eternity. That feels like days ago for me, but in reality it has been lifetimes ago - many a lifetimes ago. We used to be happy, you see, but then it all changed. I've seen all the smiles turn into frowns.. all the laughter turn into tears and screams of horror.. all the happy memories turn into times of sorrow. But most of all, I've seen all the champagne of celebration turn into a deadly flow of blood - fresh blood from each and every family. The families turn into strangers and the strangers - well, they turn into your worst enemies. Only sometimes do the people get out of the house without falling to the same curse. But this is where the curse ends. This is how it all ends. This is how Murder House becomes no more."

* * *

Silence filled the lounge of the Millers' house as everyone looked at Lucy's stone cold body that laid on the ground surrounded by a pool of deadly blood. It had been seven hours since Lucy took her last breath. No matter how many times they tried to get Eve to leave the body so they could move Lucy to a place of rest, Eve refused to leave her daughter alone. Eve sat beside her daughter's lifeless corpse and held onto her hand, looking down at the body through teary eyes - heartbroken. Not even forty years of age and Eve had managed to lose both her children. Jason was stood looking out the window at the sky as the sun was slowly starting to rise above Los Angeles, ready for another summer day in California filled with sunshine. Tate had regained conscious and had his arms wrapped around Violet as they both looked into the lounge from the doorway. Ben was stood looking at the mess by the fireplace as Vivien knelt down beside Eve to comfort her. Jesse was sat on the sofa, looking at Lucy as he cradled their baby, rocking him gently back and forth so he didn't awake from his sleep. Moira had already begun to clean up the blood that was splattered all over the furnishings with the help of Lizzy as she tried to come to terms with what she had come back to.

"Why hasn't she come back yet?" Eve screamed - her eyes blood shot and red raw from the tears she had cried all night long. "I thought this house did that. Brought them back to life. Why isn't she back?"

"It doesn't work like that," Vivien explained as she knelt down beside Eve, draping her arm around the grieving mother's shoulders. "Sometimes it can take months, even years."

Taking one last look at her daughter's body, Eve leant over and kissed Lucy's cheek. It was at that moment there was a cough from the doorway. Turning around, Eve almost burst into tears as she caught sight of her daughter's ghost, who was stood beside Tate and Violet with a smile on her face - showing no signs of a stab wound at all.

"Who died?" she joked.

"I thought you were gone forever," Eve sobbed as she held onto Lucy's body and refused to let go.

"That's the beauty of this house though, isn't it?" Lucy smiled. "Nobody dies. But it's also a curse."

Jesse stood up and handed Bailey over to her, who was now awake. After a few moments of cradling her son, Lucy looked up from the bundle of blankets and across the room at her parents as they stood by the window, looking out at the gardens of the house, lost in a deep trail of thought over what they could do. Taking one last look at Bailey, who was laid silently in her arms with his huge blue eyes looking back up at her, Lucy took a deep breath and carefully stood up from the sofa. As soon as Eve and Jason realised Lucy was walking towards them slowly, they turned around. Everybody else left the room, leaving the family to talk - something new to them.

"Here," Lucy smiled as she handed the baby over to Eve. "I'm going to make a decision for all of us now."

Eve and Jason looked at their daughter in confusion. "A decision?" Jason questioned.

Lucy nodded. "All my life, you have been making decisions for me and, well, you're supposed to as you are my parents after all. But now, I'm turning eighteen tomorrow." Lucy paused as she looked across at the clock that stood on the fireplace. "Actually, I'm eighteen and five minutes in England."

Eve and Jason both froze as they realised they had forgotten it was the day before Lucy's eighteenth birthday. "Lucy.."

"No," Lucy insisted, hushing her father before he got chance to say another word - laughing slightly as she had never had the authoritativeness with her parents before. She sort of liked it. "Let me speak. I'm an adult now after all."

Reluctantly, they both kept quiet as Lucy took another deep breath.

"You're not gonna like what I'm gonna say but you have no choice. This is what I want you to do. This is what you're gonna do. You can't argue with me either, as, well, I am dead after all and arguing with the dead is just rude," Lucy laughed. "I want you to go back to England. Leave the house. Leave the country. Go back to England. Mum, I know you wanted this to work out, but you have to admit it was the worst decision you've ever made in your entire life."

Eve nodded in defeat. She couldn't really argue with her daughter - she knew it was the worst decision she had ever made in her life. Even worse than the time she thought it would be great to dye her hair neon green when she was in college.

"But it's also been the best decision you've ever made in your entire life. I mean, yeah, I failed school and yeah, I died. Oh, and don't forget the fact I had a baby out of wedlock and the father of the baby is dead now too, probably because of me. But look at you two," Lucy smiled as she looked at her parents. "You're stronger than you have ever been. Dad, you had the chance to get back into your old habits and drink again, but you resisted it. You've both kept this family together at any cost and for that, I am so proud of you."

"Lucy," Eve tried to plead but Lucy was having none of it - she hushed her.

"I want you to go back to England with Bailey," Lucy announced.

"No," Jason said, shaking his head. "We can't do that. We can't just do that. We can't leave you."

"But you can't stay in this house," Lucy argued. "If you stay in this house, you'll end up the same as me. You'll end up dead too. And so will Bailey. I'm not having that. As your daughter and his mother, I want this to stop right here, right now. Nobody else is going to die in this house. Nobody else is going to come into this house. This cycle stops today."

"We can't," Eve pleaded. "Lucy. We can't."

"You can, mum," Lucy smiled. "And you will. I want you to bring Bailey up as your son."

Eve continued to shake her head as tears streamed down her cheek and landed on the blankets that Bailey was wrapped in. "

"I want Bailey to grow up in a safe and happy environment and I know he can get that back in England - back home," Lucy carried on. "As long as he's happy, I'll be happy."

"But you.."

"I haven't finished yet," Lucy paused after interrupting her father for a second time. "I want you to leave this house today - as soon as possible. I've already booked two seats with a baby on the plane to London Heathrow that leaves tonight and you will be on it. There's no questions to be asked. You will be on it. But there's another thing too. As of tonight, this house will not be here anymore."

Eve and Jason froze as they realised what Lucy was saying. "Lucy, you can't."

"It's too late," Lucy smiled. "Within two hours, demolition will start and this house will be rubble in a matter of minutes."

"Lucy, you can't. No!"

No matter how hard her parents protested and tried to bring their daughter to sense, Lucy already had her heart and mind set and nobody could change it - nobody. Whatever was keeping the ghosts of the lives lost in this house lost had to be coming from the house and if the house was no longer here, the ghosts would be finally free to pass on to the next life like they all so desperately wanted.

"Lucy, you're not thinking straight," Jason said, trying to persuade her as he took hold of her shoulders and sat her down on the sofa to talk to her. "I knew you shouldn't have been discharged yet. You've had to deal with so much and you only got discharged two days ago - no person can deal with what you've been through and still be sane."

"Dad, listen to me. I'm perfectly fine. I'm thinking straight. This is what I want. It's what we want. Nobody wants to be stuck in this house for the rest of eternity while people in the outside world, in reality, go through their lives and die. I wanna be the last. Nobody else should walk through those doors and suffer the amount of shit that we have. You're lucky. You get to walk away from it all and I want you to walk away with him - with Bailey. Anyway, what are you gonna do? Take me back to the hospital? Ring up the doctors and order for your dead daughter to be re-admitted? Because dad, you do that and you'll be the one admitted to the psycho unit."

Tate, who was hiding in the hallway, listening in on the conversation, sniggered but vanished up the stairs and Eve, Lucy and Jason realised somebody was eavesdropping.

"Are you sure, honey?" Eve asked, sitting down on the other side of her daughter, clutching into her grandson. "Are you really sure this is what you want as there'll be no going back on this?"

Lucy nodded. "I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life, mum."

As Eve looked down at the beautiful baby boy in her arms, she sighed. The tears has slowly stopped falling from her eyes and she was beginning to see clearly as she looked into the little baby's eyes. "Okay, honey. If that's what you wanna do, we will do it." Jason looked at his wife in confusion - bewildered by her rash decision. "You're an adult now - a mother in fact, so we, as your parents, will respect your wishes."

"Eve.."

"Jason, she's right. If this house wasn't the way it was, she would still be pregnant and she would have still had that baby and she would have still died. If this house wasn't that way it was, we would still be in the position we're in now. Just be grateful that we got to have our daughter - our beautiful baby girl's input on this. We've never consulted her before. We uprooted our entire lives without considering the impact it would have on her and we nearly lost her because of her. Well, we did lose her. She died. This -," Eve paused as she looked at Lucy and then back at her husband, who was overwhelmed with what was happening. "This isn't our daughter. This is our daughter's ghost. We have to remember that."

"Mum is right," Lucy smiled as her mum was slowly starting to see where she was coming from. "I'm not the same girl."

"Are you really sure?" Jason asked.

Lucy nodded for one final time. "I'm really sure."

With signs of reluctance, they both eventually agreed to carry out Lucy's wishes. "We will do it."

"But there is one condition," Lucy smiled. "You make sure he does not support Manchester United or Arsenal at all when he is younger because if you do, I will haunt forever."

Jason laughed. "We would never let such a horrendous thing happen to him like that. He's a Chelsea fan all the way. I can tell just by looking at him."

Lucy chuckled to herself as she looked down at her baby in her mother's arms as she slowly rocked him back and forth - his miniature eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the second as he gradually dropped off to sleep silently. "Do you mind if I say a quick goodbye to him before you leave?"

"Of course not," Eve said, trying ever so hard not to burst into tears as she passed Bailey back over to Lucy. "He is your son - brother after all."

Lucy forced a half-hearted smile as she stood up from the sofa and carefully carried the sleeping Bailey out of the lounge and up the stairs to her room, where Jesse was laid on the bed waiting for them. As Lucy walked her the room and closed the door behind them, Eve began to sob downstairs in the lounge into her husband's open arms.

"Have you done it?" Jesse asked.

Lucy nodded with tears streaming down her face as she climbed onto the bed, making sure she didn't awake her sleeping baby and settled down beside Jesse as he wrapped his arm around the both of them. "They're gonna do it," Lucy cried. "I know it's the best thing to do and some day he will thank me for doing this but I just can't help but feel like we're abandoning him, you know?"

Jesse nodded as he looked down at the baby - his baby - and stroked his chin gently with his finger. "We're not abandoning him," Jesse replied. "It's because we love him so much and want the best for him that we're doing this."

"Listen, little man," Lucy whispered as she held onto her son. "You're gonna grow up to be an amazing man, just like your father. You're gonna have such a happy childhood and you're gonna grown to have an amazing life full of amazing things and amazing times. I'm gonna be so proud of you. No matter what you do or who you become, I will always love you. And no matter where I am or where you are, you will be the first thing on my mind in the morning and the last thing on my mind at night. Before you, I never knew what it was like to love somebody - love something - as much as I love you. I am so sorry things had to be this way but my parents, your parents, will raise you to be the perfect son that I could never do."

Resting her head back against Jesse's shoulder, Lucy found herself losing her thoughts to a flood of tears. There was a million and one things on her mind but she didn't know how to say them and part of her didn't want to say them either.

An hour passed by and Lucy was still clutching onto the sleeping child as Jesse held onto her. A timid knock at the door suddenly disturbed the silence that had overtaken the room and after a few moments, Eve walked in - her eyes all red and puffy, almost identical to Lucy's.

"The car is all packed up," she sniffled.

You could tell just by the look on their faces that they were all heartbroken. "I'll come down to the car."

Jesse sweetly kissed the top of Bailey's head before turning away - probably so he didn't have to watch his son being taken away from him. As Lucy began carrying Bailey down the hallway and down the stairs, all the different members of the 'Murder House' history began to appear in the hallway and watch as the final members of the house departed, escaping the house's curse. Tate had his arm around Violet. Ben held Vivien as she clutched hold of their own son, Jeffrey. Constance stood at the end of the hallway, watching her last chance of being a mother leaving. Lorraine and Larry were placed at the other end of the hallway, beside the staircase, with their children in front of them. Nora and Charles held hands at the bottom of the staircase as the broke hearted Lucy and Eve continued to walk down the stairs towards them. In the porte-cochère, Chad and Patrick stood - surprisingly exchanging smiles with one another as Lucy made her way past them. Lucy didn't even notice the ghosts appearing as she was too busy focusing on her son, cherishing every last moment she had with him.

"I told you," a voice said from behind where Chad and Patrick stood on the porte-cochère. "I said you were going to die in there. You should have listened to me."

As Addie disappeared into the house and up the stairs to be reunited with her brothers and mother with a huge grin across her face, Chad looked at Patrick in confusion as Patrick turned his head to watch Lucy as she handed over the baby to her mother.

"Please, make sure he's happy," Lucy teared up as she placed Bailey in her mother's arms - the arms she would have been in not that long ago as a baby herself.

"Of course we will," Eve promised, handing the baby over to Jason, who began to clip him into the car seat in the back of their car. "You don't need to even ask us that. His happiness is gonna be our priority."

Reassured by her mother's comments, Lucy began to walk back into the house, sobbing her heart out as she took each step further away from her family. Without any warning, two arms grabbed hold of her and held onto her in an embracing hug - her mother's hug, her favourite type of hug. "Mummy," she sobbed.

Every ghost that watched the family falling apart in the gardens below were beginning to tear up.

"I love you so much, Lucy," Eve said, pulling away from the hug as she looked at her daughter for one last time. "I don't want you to ever feel like I don't. You are the only thing in my life that I am truly proud of. I am so sorry that I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most but I'm gonna make it up to you by doing this for you."

"Mum," Lucy paused as she looked though the tears to her mum. "I love you."

"Come here," Eve whimpered as she pulled her in for a final hug. "If you don't want this to happen, just say. We'll stay."

Lucy shook her head. "It can't go on. It's gonna end today."

"That's my girl," Eve smiled - a forced smile but a smile nevertheless. "I really do love you. And I am so, so proud of you."

As Eve eventually let go and made her way back to the car, clambering into the passenger seat and collapsing into a mess of tears, Jason walked over to his daughter and sat her down on the step of the porte-cochère. Chad and Patrick were nowhere to be in sight anymore.

"Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy," Jason laughed in an attempt to make this evidently upsetting time be a bit fun so the both of them didn't get too emotional. "I am so proud of you. You genuinely have no idea how proud I am of you. After everything you've gone through in the past year, I want you to know I couldn't not be prouder to call you my daughter. I know I failed you when you were young.."

"Dad, you didn't fail me."

"Lucy, I did. I let you down when you needed me. I let both you and your mother down and I will never forgive myself for what I did to you both."

"Dad, don't."

"Okay," Jason nodded before throwing his arms around Lucy and pulling her in for a huge hug. "Come here."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Silence remained in the grounds of the house until it was disturbed by the sound of the bulldozers making their way down the street. "You'd better get going," Lucy said, keeping as strong as she possibly could.

Jason looked at the destruction team that were slowly approaching the house in the distance before turning back to his daughter for one last few words. "I'm sorry for failing you as a father."

Lucy laughed a genuine laugh. "I'm sorry for failing school and not getting into university like you always wanted me too."

"Break even?" Jason asked as he held his hand out for Lucy to shake as if to close to deal.

"Look after my son and I'll call it quits," Lucy joked, shaking her father's hand.

Pulling her in for a quick final hug goodbye, Jason kissed the top of his daughter's soft and shiny hair. "I'm shit at goodbyes so see you around," he smiled as he finally broke away from the girl he once called princess before he began to walk back to his car.

"I love you," Lucy mouthed for one last time before she walked into the house and closed the door behind her.

Walking up the stairs, Lucy smiled at all the faces of the ghosts that were staring at her, waiting for some sort of response from her - as if she was their leader in command. "Let's do this shit," she laughed.

As the Millers' family car reversed off the drive, Jason nodded at the guys in their bulldozer before driving down the road - both of them taking one final glance at the house in the rear view mirror as it slowly began to get smaller and smaller with each second that went by until there was no sight of it at all left in the mirror.

Climbing back onto the bed in her room, Lucy felt a set of fingers intertwine with hers - Jesse. "I told you I would be here forever and I meant it. I love you, Lucy."

As the bulldozer began to strike the walls, the house suddenly turned from an isolated atmosphere into a happy place. It was as if the house was letting its captives free. One by one, all the characters that had once called the house 'home' were disappearing together. Jesse was holding onto Lucy. Tate was holding Violet. Ben was holding Vivien and Jeffrey. Constance was holding Beauregard, her son. Larry held onto Lorraine, Angela and Margaret. Patrick was holding onto Chad. Charles was holding Nora as she cradled baby Thaddeus in her arms. Dr. Curran found himself clinging to Gladys and Maria - even though they had never met before. Within three hours, the complete house was reduced to a mountain of rubble. It was over. It was all over..

* * *

**_Six months later.._**

Six months had passed since 939 Berro Drive had been demolished and the city of Los Angeles had replaced the house with an extension to the nearby park - along with trees, benches and a little manmade lake that the local children used to feed the ducks. It was the perfect place to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon with the family and Halloween was no exception.

Pushing the stroller along the path towards the small lake, Eve grinned down at her grandson, Bailey. "Are we gonna feed the duckies?" Eve beamed as her grandson giggled away in the stroller, looking at the trees in amazement.

"He looks like he's never seen a tree before," Jason laughed as he wrapped his arm around Eve's waist. "I mean, there are still trees in London. Even if they aren't as pretty as these ones."

"That's because in London, all we get is rain. I think he's more amazed at the fact the sun still exists," Eve joked as she stopped pushing Bailey's stroller and parked it against the tree in the shade.

Taking a blanket from her bag, Eve placed it down on the freshly cut grass and sat down on top of it, admiring the park. She couldn't believe that in the very place she was sat, it was her kitchen just six months ago. Looking around, Eve sighed. "I thought they would be here by now."

"I told you not to get your hopes up," Jason said, trying to comfort his disappointed wife. "It was only a theory."

Eve nodded.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the park, a couple walked down the path holding hands. "Hey, I only said you could have a lick of my ice-cream," a feminine voice laughed as the girl grabbed her ice-cream back from her boyfriend.

"I'll get you another one if you really are that bothered about it."

"It's fine."

"Isn't that your.."

Jesse was interrupted before he had the chance to breathe, let alone finish his sentence. Lucy's ice-cream was flung down on the floor within seconds and by the time Jesse realised Lucy had let go of his hand, she was already half way across the park.

"Mum!" she screamed in ecstasy. "Mum!"

Standing up from the picnic blanket, Eve began to run in her daughter's direction - her arms wide open, ready for Lucy's hug. As they both met near to where Eve and Jason had been sitting, they both embraced each other tightly. "See," Eve beamed as she looked over her daughter's shoulder to Jason with a smug smile across her face. "I told you that it would work."

"What?" Lucy asked as she walked across to the picnic blanket and as Jesse caught back up with them.

"Hey, Jesse," Eve smiled.

"Your mother had this crazy idea that Halloween and that it's the day where the dead can walk amongst the living," Jason laughed.

"Well, it's true," Lucy grinned. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are," Eve smiled, still in disbelief as she looked at her daughter. "Oh, we brought somebody to see you too."

Jason reached over to grab the axel of the pushchair and began to wheel it over to reveal an empty pushchair. As soon as they realised it was empty, Eve and Jason looked at each other with a look of horror on their faces before they both erupted into a state of panic. "Where's he gone?" Eve panicked as they both jumped to their feet.

"You mean this little one?" Violet laughed as she carried over a six-month old baby - well, six-months and three days old baby. "I caught him before he had the chance to crawl his way to China."

Passing Bailey over to Lucy, Violet and Tate both sat down on the grass beside the family and smiled as they watched Lucy and Jesse's reunion with their son. "God, he's got so big," Lucy beamed as she admired Bailey, who was grinning back at her. It was as if he knew who she was from the moment he first laid his big blue eyes on her.

"Hello you," Jesse laughed as he grinned at his son.

"So, what's it like?" Jason asked as he laid out a tray of strawberries on the blanket. "Being free from the house?"

"It's not that bad," Jesse replied. "It's just like a big sleep in between Halloweens though."

It wasn't long before another couple joined the family - Vivien and Ben as they both pushed Jeffrey in his pushchair. "Lucy, your father managed to get his old job back too," Eve announced proudly as she placed the stork of a strawberry on the side of the tray.

"And your mother has managed to get promoted to assistant manager of the salon," Jason added.

As old faces from the house continued to join the family for their picnic, the sun continued to shine down on them. This Halloween wasn't like any other Halloween that any of the characters had experienced - it wasn't full of fright and fear, it was full of happiness and freedom. It was the first Halloween where they were all free to enjoy the Californian sunshine without the worry of murder or invasion, without the fear of blood or screams. They were all free to play sports. They were all free to splash about in the lake. They were all free to devour strawberries in the shade. They were all free to laugh and joke as the day carried on.

And that's what the Miller family did every Halloween.

It may sound a bit cliché and like a fairytale, but they all lived happily ever after. October the thirty-first of each and every year turned into a tradition of reunion in the park where 939 Berro Drive once stood. Bailey grew up and continued to visit the park as he went through childhood. He didn't question why Jesse and Lucy never aged. He didn't question why none of the people he spent Halloween with never aged. This was the life he knew. As Eve and Jason grew older and retired, they moved back out to Los Angeles and Bailey continued to visit his grandparents and his parents for Halloween, where they would spend Halloween as a family at the park.


End file.
